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Patel Quota stir, Vyapam scam feature in Rahul Gandhi-Congress Legislature Party leaders meet

Leader of the Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela spoke at length about the political situation in the state and the ongoing agitation of the Patel community for reservation.

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Various issues -- from the Patel community's stir seeking reservation and the Vyapam scam to the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to levy service tax on pilgrims availing chopper services to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine -- came up for discussion today at a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and CLP leaders of the non-Congress ruled states.

Congress vice-president Gandhi, who had earlier held one-on-one discussions with the CLP leaders, had a joint meeting with the CLP leaders of 20 states including poll-bound Bihar on Monday. He took an overview of the electoral scenario prevailing in Bihar where the JDU-RJD-Congress combine is locked in a keen contest with a resurgent BJP.

"It was a first-of-its-kind meeting in the recent past in which Congress Legislature Party leaders of so many states interacted together. Rahulji asked us to explain the issues in our respective states and wanted to know what we are doing to highlight them," a CLP leader, who attended the closed-door meeting, said.

Senior party leader A K Antony will continue the discussions with the CLP leaders tomorrow after a meeting of Congress Working Committee, which has been called to seek extension for organisational polls.

In the three-hour meeting, Gandhi asked the CLP leaders of the non-Congress ruled states to aggressively raise issues concerning respective states and ensure that people were made aware of lacunae in governance there. The meeting came in the wake of Congress' defeat in civic body elections in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana despite a massive campaign by the party on the Vyapam scam and the Lalit Modi controversy, forcing the party to re-think its strategy.

Leader of the Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela spoke at length about the political situation in the state and the ongoing agitation of the Patel community for reservation.

At the meeting, Vaghela said he suspected "a BJP hand" in the Patel community's quota agitation. Gandhi advised the CLP leaders to focus on one issue at a time to corner the government instead of raising too many issues, which he felt, ends up confusing people. Gandhi also asked Madhya Pradesh CLP leader Satyadev Katare to brief about the Vyapam Scam.

Jammu and Kashmir's CLP leader Nawang Rizgin Jora raised the issue of the PDP-BJP government's decision to levy service tax on pilgrims availing chopper services to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, which the Congress has flayed.

The political scenario in Punjab, where elections are due in 2017 was also discussed. CLP leader of Punjab Sunil Jakhar gave an account of the "failure" of the SAD-BJP government in the state and the strategy that the state unit has adopted.

When Jakhar sought to raise the issue of factionalism in the party, Gandhi asked him to take up the matter separately. The Congress vice-president pressed for coordination between the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) and CLP.

Punjab Leaders have been camping in Delhi and met AICC general secretary in-charge for the state Shakeel Ahmed on Monday evening. There has been a raging feud between former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Punjab PCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa.

"No contentious issues came up... The meeting happened in a very positive atmosphere. Rahulji was jotting down issues and we have got a feeling that sometime or later our performances will be reviewed," said another CLP leader. Gandhi also wanted to know about the issues the state Congress leaders are raising in the Assembly.

A number of state leaders congratulated Gandhi over the land bill issue, saying his persistent opposition forced the government to withdraw changes that it had brought in the UPA's land bill. Congress is planning a victory rally on August 20 in NCR.

The meeting took place place a day ahead of the Congress Working Committee meet, which has been called to discuss the current political situation. The CWC meeting will frame an action plan for a nation-wide agitation against the Modi government's "failures" on various fronts.

Congress is in power in only nine states, including Karnataka and Kerala.

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