Ex-Rajasthan Minister Vishvendra Singh Resigns From Congress After Rift With Govind Singh Dotasra

Vishvendra Singh resigned from the Congress on Friday after publicly attacking the Rajasthan party leadership and accusing the Bharatpur and Deeg units of sidelining “actual party workers” in the local body polls.

The former Cabinet minister in the Ashok Gehlot government made the move two days after his broadside against state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra. In a social media statement on Friday morning, Singh said it was “better to die with self-respect than suffocation”. The comments triggered fresh speculation within the Congress that he could be headed to the BJP.

Dotasra rejected the allegations a day earlier and called them “propaganda”. “There is no discord among us. This is the BJP’s toolkit. The BJP spreads propaganda and tries to show that there are differences within the Congress,” he said.

Singh’s Public Allegations

Bharatpur and Deeg Congress district presidents had reportedly forwarded a report against Singh to the party high command. In a post on September 30, the former minister alleged that the two had distributed tickets to their favourites while pushing aside “genuine party workers”, and said voters had answered this in the elections.

He cast the setback as a leadership failure. “Who is responsible for the ruin of Congress in Bharatpur-Deeg?” Singh said. He added that voters were ready to hold the two district presidents and Dotasra accountable.

Bharatpur mattered politically, Singh argued. He said it was the Chief Minister’s home district and the Congress should have been stronger there, but alleged that the local leadership had damaged the party.

He also widened the attack to Dotasra personally. In a separate post, Singh alleged that Dotasra had misused power during the previous Congress government to benefit family members. “Such corrupt leaders should resign with immediate effect, or the Congress party high command should take strict action against them and expel them from the party,” Singh said. The BJP has made similar allegations over the years, and the Congress and Dotasra have refuted them on multiple occasions.

Friday Social Statement

Singh cast his resignation as a matter of conscience. “I have always taken decisions in life by listening to the voice of my beloved Giriraj Maharaj and my conscience. Today, the baseless statements made by some small-time so-called leaders have angered my workers. My conscience is also saddened and distressed. If the party for which I sacrificed my life has rewarded my loyalty, honesty, and dedication in this way, I am deeply shaken,” he wrote in his Friday social media statement.

He then tied the break to personal dignity. “I have always lived my life with dignity, respect, and self-respect. I have never compromised on my principles and ideals. My workers are angry because of the current tradition of chaploosi (flattery). If calling a spade a spade and not supporting falsehood is a sin, then I will do it every time. I neither do wrong nor tolerate wrong,” Singh said.

He ended with an appeal to public service and personal credibility. “I live for them and will die for them. Every drop of my blood has been, and will continue to be, shed for my workers, my voters, the people of my constituency, and the state. My public life is an open book. It is spotless, I have never allowed any stain to be put on my reputation, nor will I ever allow it to be put on my reputation,” Singh said.

Political Career Background

Singh has served as a Cabinet minister in Ashok Gehlot’s government and is a three-term MP-MLA. He comes from the erstwhile royal family of Bharatpur and is the son of Bharatpur’s last ruler Brijendra Singh, who died in 1995.

He remains an influential Jat leader in the region. He has also been a BJP MP earlier, a fact that has fed talk that he may switch again after quitting the Congress.

His electoral career has crossed party lines. Singh was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Bharatpur on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989. In 1993, he won the Nadbai Assembly seat on a Congress ticket.

He returned to Parliament from Bharatpur in 1999 as a BJP candidate and won again in 2004. In 2013 and 2018, he was elected as an MLA from Deeg Kumher on a Congress ticket. Beyond politics, he has also remained in the news over internal rifts within his family.

2020 Rebellion Case

Singh’s latest rupture with the Congress comes after an earlier clash with the party leadership. Six years ago, he emerged as one of the key architects of the then deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot-led rebellion against the Ashok Gehlot government in 2020.

On complaints from then government chief whip Mahesh Joshi, the Special Operations Group registered two FIRs. Both cases were lodged under IPC sections 124A for sedition and 120B for punishment for criminal conspiracy.

One FIR stemmed from an alleged conversation involving Vishvendra Singh and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The complaint, which did not name either man, had claimed that a conversation was played on social media and television channels, where two persons are heard talking, and transcribes their conversation. After the rebellion and the audio leaks, Singh was removed as Tourism Minister and suspended from the primary membership of the Congress party.

Joshi’s complaint set out the charge in strong terms. “In the said conversation, the persons are planning a conspiracy to topple a democratically elected and legally established government, through exchange of money and by spreading unrest. This comes under sedition. Hence, please lodge a case against the conspirators as per rules, and take action,” the complaint said; he had also submitted the audio clip of the conversation.

That phase did not end his career in government. After the Pilot camp returned to Jaipur, Singh got back the Tourism department along with Civil Aviation in a cabinet expansion in November 2021. Following his reinduction, he had apparently grown closer to Gehlot than to Pilot.