‘CM Gehlot, Pilot should talk more’

Even as Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot has openly spoken on more than one occasion against the change in municipal rule to allow anyone, even a non-councillor, to stand for the position of Mayor or municipality chairperson, AICC secretary Vivek Bansal in an interview to Sanchin Saini says party leaders should desist from voicing grievances in public. Edited excerpts :

How do you see the Congress ministers raising their objection on new civic rule allowing anyone to become mayor?

Any new system when it is brought into operation there are bound to be discordant notes…i am not saying I approve or disapprove of what has been done. It would be taken into the party forum – the general secretary and I will discuss its merits and demerits, pros and cons... The issue will further be discussed with the chief Minister and state party president. The aim should be to strengthen democracy within. In a party, there is a system of saying things, party provides a forum. As responsible leaders, we should try to refrain from airing grievances in public.

Deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot too has questioned the new rule and stated that it wasn’t discussed in the cabinet?

Democracy keeps on evolving and we need to make it more flexible and it has to be a reflection of the people. In any decision, we should involve maximum number of people. Having this policy in mind, we may have reservation and may put forth counter arguments – it is how we see the bottle, it can be either half full or half empty. The issue (change in civic polls) was discussed in a meeting at the chief minister’s residence and a threemember committee was constituted to look into it.

The central leadership had to intervene into the issue. How far is it justified?

I would not like to comment on the issue as we are in process of addressing the issue.

There are reports that AICC general secretary and secretaries in charge of Rajasthan are preparing report of nonperforming ministers and leaders in bypolls. Will that have a bearing on cabinet reshuffle? Yes, definitely, the performance appraisal is not limited to bypolls. We want to see their performances as ministers and as in charge of districts assigned to them, their availability to leader and workers. All this will be taken into account and then a report and progress chart will be made. We are also accountable to the party. Even our performance is overseen.

Will the performance in by-polls be a parameter in the upcoming political appointment and cabinet reshuffle? Definitely, when it happens, the accountability would be there and all this would be taken into account.

Do you think the only way to bridge the gap between the two leaders (CM Ashok Gehlot and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot) in state is a dialogue?

At the moment, dialogue is a must and in fact lack of communication tends to create misunderstanding. Both leaders are very experienced and have a big profile but I think if they communicate with each other frequently and seeking each other’s advice.