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Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday summoned party general secretary in-charge of Bihar Mukul Wasnik and asked him to explain his position on the allegation that he had sough financial favours to allot seats in the recent Bihar assembly elections, where the party faced a thorough drubbing.
This comes in the wake of the Bihar Congress members stepping up their attack against Wasnik. The trouble for Wasnik began on Sunday when Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee members raised slogans when he took the dais.
The members who on Sunday shouted slogans such as 'Wasnik chor hai' (Wasnik is a thief) on Monday distributed thousands of pamphlets alleging that Wasnik had taken Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs to allot seats during the Bihar elections.
They alleged that 142 of the 243 seats were 'sold' to unfit candidates from outside the party fold and anti social elements.
Though Wasnik was the main person in the eye of the storm, the pamphlets on Monday named Ashok Kumar, Sagar Raitha and Imran Kidwai of also having ruining the Congress' chances in the elections.
Now, the agitating leaders are planning to meet the top leadership under the banner of Bihar Congress Bachao Sangharsh Morcha.
The Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee and All India Congress Committee members from Bihar will also meet Sonia Gandhi and raise this issue. They will demand for action against these leaders apart from seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against these leaders.
The Congress leaders from Bihar present at the plenary wondered if factionalism had a role to play in the release of the pamphlets and said that these persons mentioned above ruined the name of Rahul Gandhi in the state.
Image: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi (right) speaks with Mukul Wasnik (left) at the plenary meet on Monday
Photograph: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com