3 min readJaipurUpdated: Aug 4, 2026 05:49 AM IST
Fissures appear to deepen in the Rajasthan Congress. Days after state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra’s remarks against former chief minister Ashok Gehlot hinted at internal tensions, some leaders publicly accused others of sabotaging their chances in the 2023 Assembly polls.
The latest flashpoint came at a party meeting for panchayat and urban body polls – widely considered the first real organisational test of the Rajasthan Congress after its Assembly defeat in 2023.
The Jaipur City Congress meeting was attended by Rajasthan Congress in-charge Poonam Paswan, former state minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, MLAs Amin Kagzi and Rafiq Khan, and Jaipur City Congress president Sunil Sharma.
According to party sources, some leaders blamed party colleagues for the Congress’s defeat in the Assembly elections, prompting senior leaders to warn that rebels would not be given tickets in the local body polls.
Sources quoted Hawa Mahal Assembly candidate R.R. Tiwari, the former Jaipur City Congress president, as saying that he had been defeated, not by the BJP, but by political rivals within the Congress.
Tiwari lost to BJP candidate Balmukund Acharya by a narrow margin of 974 votes. He told reporters later that he had not wanted to contest the election “but did so on the directions of the party high command”.
“We made every preparation, and on the eve of polling day, some Congress leaders arranged for nearly 600 voters to travel to Ajmer for free in the name of visiting the Ajmer Dargah. I lost 600 votes,” Tiwari said, adding that Congress suffers more because of people within the party than because of the BJP or RSS.
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Malviya Nagar Congress candidate Archana Sharma also expressed similar frustration, alleging that she had to “fight more Congress leaders than BJP leaders during the elections”. Sharma lost to BJP’s Kali Charan Saraf by 35,494 votes.
Sharma alleged that she had faced similar problems in the last three Assembly elections.
“Many Congress members sabotaged my campaign and supported my rival. They defamed me and worked against the party and me. I had to send a defamation notice,” she told The Indian Express.
According to sources, the allegations led to a heated exchange in the meeting, prompting former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas to warn that rebels who “worked against party interests” would not be given party tickets in the upcoming local body polls.
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When contacted, Khachariyawas denied that there were “cracks” in the party.
“These kinds of tussles happen in every party. We are united and will contest the elections together,” he said.
This appears to be the latest flashpoint within the Congress. Just days earlier, state Congress president Dotasra appeared critical of former chief minister Ashok Gehlot after some Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) workers were inducted into the Congress at Gehlot’s residence instead of the party headquarters. Without naming anyone directly, Dotasra said the Congress had suffered due to “individual-centric politics”, stressing that his loyalty was only to the party, and “not any one individual”.
Gehlot has yet to comment on the issue. However, Gehlot loyalists such as Kota North MLA Shanti Dhariwal have defended him, saying he is the “high command in the state”.
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The local body polls in Rajasthan are scheduled to be held later this year.