Congress boycotts all-party meet ahead of Rajasthan Assembly'€™s Monsoon session

Jaipur, Aug 28 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday boycotted an all-party meeting convened ahead of the Monsoon session of Rajasthan Assembly, prompting the BJP to term the decision against the interests of the state and the opposition.

Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani called the all-party meeting ahead of the Monsoon session beginning September 1.

Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully and Chief Whip of the Congress Legislative Party, Rafeek Khan, were invited for the meeting but did not attend.

Explaining their stand, Jully wrote on X that the Congress skipped the meeting due to the state government's “one-sided approach”.

“During the Congress government in May 2020, the chief minister (Ashok Gehlot) held a meeting with all the 200 MLAs and 25 MPs from the state to listen to their concerns.

“But the present government is only holding talks with the BJP MLAs, MPs and even defeated candidates, ignoring the voice of the opposition. Such one-sided approach forced us to boycott today's meeting,” Jully said.

He added that the Congress will participate in the Assembly proceedings on Day 1 and hold a legislative party meeting on September 2, where senior leaders, including the party in-charge for Rajasthan, state president and former chief ministers, will decide the future course of action.

Condemning the boycott, BJP leader and chief whip in the Assembly, Jogeshwar Garg, accused the opposition of “running away from the field”.

“It seems the two Congress leaders deliberately boycotted the meeting. Perhaps the internal fight between (Rajastahan Congress chief Govind Singh) Dotasra and Jully is surfacing once again. I strongly condemn the decision, which was very unfortunate.

“The government and the speaker were trying to create a positive atmosphere but the opposition hurt that effort. This is not in the interest of the opposition or Rajasthan,” he said.

The Monsoon session is expected to witness heated debates between the BJP and the Congress on several key issues. PTI AG ARI