Quota stir, Vyapam scam feature in Rahul-CLP leaders meet

Various issues -- from the Patel community's stir seeking reservation and the Vyapam scam to the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to levy service tax on pilgrims availing chopper services to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine -- came up for discussion today at a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and CLP leaders of the non-Congress ruled states.
Congress vice-president Gandhi, who had earlier held one-on-one discussions with the CLP leaders, today had a joint meeting with the CLP leaders of 20 states including poll-bound Bihar.
He took an overview of the electoral scenario prevailing in Bihar where the JDU-RJD-Congress combine is locked in a keen contest with a resurgent BJP.

"It was a first-of-its-kind meeting in the recent past in which Congress Legislature Party leaders of so many states interacted together. Rahulji asked us to explain the issues in our respective states and wanted to know what we are doing to highlight them," a CLP leader, who attended the closed-door meeting, said.
Senior party leader A K Antony will continue the discussions with the CLP leaders tomorrow after a meeting of Congress Working Committee, which has been called to seek extension for organisational polls.
In the three-hour meeting, Gandhi asked the CLP leaders of the non-Congress ruled states to aggressively raise issues concerning respective states and ensure that people were made aware of lacunae in governance there.

The meeting came in the wake of Congress' defeat in civic body elections in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana despite a massive campaign by the party on the Vyapam scam and the Lalit Modi controversy, forcing the party to re-think its strategy.
Leader of the Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela spoke at length about the political situation in the state and the ongoing agitation of the Patel community for reservation.