Jaipur: Discontent within Congress came out in the open after the civic poll results, with around 250 disgruntled party workers meeting at Birla Auditorium Sunday to voice their anger over the defeat. The workers accused Jaipur city Congress president Sunil Sharma of distributing tickets at the behest of MLAs and demanded his removal.The workers said Congress had a chance of forming the board in Jaipur but Sharma took “wrong decisions” under pressure from MLAs. They said he should take responsibility for the defeat and step down.The group is now preparing to go to Delhi to meet the party high command and has sought an appointment.They also warned that senior and long-time Congress workers would stage a protest outside the Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters if Sharma was not removed.After the meeting, Congress worker Varun Purohit said, “We are original Congress workers. Our families have had freedom fighters and former ministers. We have been raising this issue continuously. There is unity in the Congress, but tickets of old Congress workers were cut.”Purohit said Rahul Gandhi had resigned on moral grounds after the party lost elections when he was Congress president. “MLAs, MPs, assembly candidates and district presidents should follow Rahul Gandhi’s example and take responsibility for the defeat by stepping down,” he said.Razzak Bhati, former state president of Congress’s Kacchi Basti cell, also accused Sharma of arbitrary ticket distribution. “We are original Congress workers and have worked for the party for 40-50 years. Yet today, we were reduced to 57 seats in Jaipur. This situation arose because Jaipur city Congress president Sunil Sharma acted according to his own wishes,” he said.Bhati alleged that Sharma, under pressure from MLAs, gave tickets to people who were not even primary members of the party in several wards. “We have been continuously demanding Sharma’s removal. The party high command should listen to us and remove him. If they still do not listen, we will stage a protest outside the Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters,” he said.The workers have decided to go to Delhi to raise their grievances with the high command, including their concerns over ticket distribution and the reasons behind the party’s poor performance in the civic polls.
