Rajasthan BSP MLAs' meeting with Governor put off

An official meeting of six BSP MLAs, supporting the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan, with Governor Kalyan Singh was postponed, triggering speculation abut their continued support.

Official sources said the six BSP MLAs were scheduled to meet the Governor on Monday in the evening. However, by 5 pm, the Governor was informed that the meeting could not proceed due to illness of one of the MLAs, Deepchand.

As BSP has extended its support to Congress in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the news of BSP seeking appointment with Governor spread like wild wire fuelling speculation about BSP's support.

The "cancelled" meeting followed rout of the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls in the state with BJP making a clean sweep.

Meanwhile, BSP MLA Wajib Ali sought to play down the significance of the MLAs' scheduled meeting with the Governor. "It was supposed to be a routine meeting," he said.

The speculation over BSP MLAs' came hours after state minister Lal Chand Kataria's resignation letter went viral, which remained unconfirmed by the CMO and Governor's House till evening. Even Kataria was unavailable.

Later, another state minister Ramesh Meena also came out counting failures of his government which resulted in Congress failing to get even a single seat in the parliamentary elections.

"Bureaucracy dominated the government... the work promised to the people could not be taken up. This upset even our party workers," said Meena.

Meanwhile, a review meeting scheduled in Delhi to evaluate reasons for party's severe drubbing in Rajasthan was also postponed in the wake of unavailability of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Party sources said the meeting would be held on Tuesday at Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi's residence in the presence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and Congress party state in-charge Avinash Pandey. A committee formed under the guidance of senior leader A.K. Antony will review the reasons of the stunning defeat, sources added.

Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader Ahmed Patel are likely to participate in the meeting, sources said.

--IANS

arc/prs