Cong leader objects to ex-Jaipur mayor urging Sonia Gandhi to postpone Dec 12 rally

PTI, Dec 9, 2021, 1:52 PM IST

Congress leader Mitroday Gandhi on Thursday sought the expulsion of former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal from the party for demanding postponement of the anti-inflation rally in the state capital on December 12.

Khandelwal had on Wednesday written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi requesting her to postpone the rally because of the rising number of Covid cases.

The rally against inflation was shifted from Delhi to Jaipur. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and a large number of party leaders and workers from across the country are slated to participate in the rally.

While asserting that holding a protest against inflation was necessary since there is resentment among people, Khandelwal said in the letter that considering the rising Covid cases and the death of Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, the Congress should postpone the rally.

At a meeting of the Congress’ Jaipur unit on Thursday over the preparations for the rally, Mitroday Gandhi objected to Khandelwal writing the letter to Sonia Gandhi.

As soon as state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra started addressing the meeting, Mitroday Gandhi raised the issue with Khandelwal and AICC general secretary Ajay Maken sitting on the dais. He said what Khandelwal did was wrong and she should not have opposed the rally.

Dotasra reacted, ”If she has done wrong, then what you are doing is also not correct.” Before the situation could escalate further, other party workers at the meeting made Mitroday Gandhi sit quietly.

After the meeting, Mitroday said that Khandelwal should be expelled from the party.

”Only because she is not able to bring crowd to the rally, she has demanded from the party president that the event be postponed. She should have sat on dharna in Amit Shah’s rally held in Jaipur recently if she had a problem with this rally,” he said.