Maharashtra Congress suspends Sanjay Jha after he tweets praises of Pilot

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 14

Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday suspended Sanjay Jha from the party membership of the state unit.

The notice of suspension blamed Jha for anti-party activities and breach of party discipline.

The suspension came after Jha tweeted in favour of Sachin Pilot and said, “For five years Sachin Pilot gave his blood , tears, toil and sweat for the Congress party between 2013-18. The Congress came back from a wretched 21 seats to 100. We just gave him a performance bonus. We are so meritocratic. We are so transparent.”

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said he was sad to see Sachin Pilot “leave” the Congress and asserted that instead of “parting”, the former Rajasthan deputy chief minister should have joined the effort to make the party a more effective instrument for “his and our dreams”.

However, when asked on Twitter whether Pilot had left the party, Tharoor said, “Not formally. I certainly hope that reconciliation is still possible. The events of the last few days led me to draw an obvious inference.”      

“If he returns to the fold & works for a revived &reformed @incIndia, he would be more than welcome,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

Historian Willam Dalrymple replying to Tharoor’s tweet, wrote, “It’s a real tragedy and it’s a terrible indictment of Congress that the two of the people who should be leading the party have left while the brightest star of them all has been (at least partially) sidelined.”

The Congress on Tuesday cracked the whip on dissident leader Pilot, stripping him of the posts of deputy chief minister and the party’s Rajasthan unit president for revolting against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Responding to the developments, Tharoor tweeted, “I am sad to see @SachinPilot leave @INCIndia.

“I consider him one of our best & brightest, and wish it had not come to this. Instead of parting, he should have joined the effort to make the Party a better & more effective instrument for his, and our, dreams.” With Agencies