Congress legislature party (CLP) in Rajasthan to hold two-day introspection session from February 6 to 8

The Congress legislature party (CLP) in Rajasthan will hold a two-day introspection session from February 6 to 8 just before the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha commences. During this session, members would dwell on various issues relating to the performance of the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state and formulate a strategy to counter the Opposition.

Ashok Gehlot as Chief Minister has been holding such sessions to hear the party’s legislators. During his three terms as Chief Minister, Gehlot has given an opportunity for a free and fearless introspection to the party’s MLAs to improve the functioning of the government.

Such introspections give the ruling party an opportunity to assess the party’s weaknesses and strengths with an aim to give better governance of the state. It’s a democratic process where each party MLA comes out with his or her suggestions for better administration.

Ajay Maken, AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, will be present during this session whose focus will be on the state Budget and the priorities of the government. The party’s MLAs would discuss various welfare schemes and their effective implementations with a view to retaining power when the state goes for Vidhan Sabha election in 2023.

The session will be addressed by state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara and also former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot.

The Chief Minister would also go by the suggestions of the party’s MLAs on long-pending political appointments.

Meanwhile, during the virtual foundation laying ceremony of the Haridev Joshi University of Journalism on Thursday, Chief Minister Gehlot stressed that the media, the fourth pillar of democracy, was not being allowed to work independently by the NDA government.
“Dissent and healthy criticism have an important place in democracy and healthy criticism by the media is always in the best interest of the people and allows the government to introspect and improve its governance,” he said.

The state government has allotted 1.24 lakh meters of land for setting up of the journalism university which is named after late Chief Minister Haridev Joshi, who started his career as a journalist.

Gehlot said that during the Congress rule in the state, the government set up the journalism university and also the Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University for Law Studies. These universities were set up through legislative acts. But when the BJP came to power in 2013, these two universities were closed down by repealing the Acts under which these universities were formed.

When the Congress government came in power again in 2018, it re-established the two universities through an Act passed by the VidhanSabha.

“I really wonder who advised the then Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to close down the two universities that were set up for providing quality education to aspiring journalists and youths pursuing law education. Such acts of closing down legally-formed universities served as a body blow and we re-established the universities to continue its determination to provide quality education,” Gehlot said during the virtual ceremony.

Gehlot said the state government has made an allocation of Rs 115 crore in the first phase to build the journalism university campus and it was hoped that the building would be ready within 18 months.

Incidentally, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra as Chancellor of Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communications, acting on a complaint made by former education minister and current BJP MLA Vasudeo Devnani,suspended the recruitment process of the university on the ground that its Vice-Chancellor, Om Thanvi, a journalist with 45 years’ experience who served as Editor of the national Hindi daily Jansatta, cannot take a policy decision on recruitment as there were only three months left for the completion of his tenure.

The Raj Bhavan issued an order that the recruitment process of appointing 26 faculty members should be suspended till a new Vice-Chancellor is appointed through an official process.

Vice-Chancellor Om Thanvi through a Facebook post stated: “The law does not prevent a working Vice-Chancellor to take any decision till his tenure is completed. I do not want to undertake any recruitment process at the fag end of my tenure. But the BJP leaders are always eager to look at the possibility of errors. The recruitment process started almost eight months ago and the universities issued an advertisement inviting applications for the post of Vice Chancellor for the journalism university. I have stated that the process of recruitment will be done by the new incumbent VC”.

Thanvi said he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor by the Chancellor in his capacity as the Governor under section 11(17) of the HaridevJoshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication after consultation with the government. He said his appointment was under the provision of the Act under which the University was founded.