Some people of Rajasthan who have come here on behalf of the Congress consider this Mount Abu to be a beautiful spot and therefore say that Rajasthan has a claim on it. There are many beautiful spots in India and that is no justification for claiming Mount Abu. The Rajasthan Congress Committee was told from the very beginning that Sirohi is a part of Gujarat and will go with Bombay. The Congress committee took cudgels with the Ministry and started this cry. Before that, when the annual session of the Congress was held in Rajasthan, Shri Gokulbhai Bhatt, who was the Chief Minister of Sirohi, was also the President of the Rajasthan Congress Committee. Shri Gokulbhai also comes from Gujarat. I asked them whether they wanted Gokulbhai because he was President of the Rajasthan Congress Committee or whether they wanted Sirohi. Really what they wanted was that Gokulbhai, who was elected to the Reception Committee as its Chairman, should continue as the President of the Rajasthan Congress Committee as well. It was difficult for them to keep him there unless Sirohi was in it while our decision was that Sirohi should go to Bombay. Therefore, to accommodate them, we said we would take Sirohi to the Centre for the present but it was to be administered by the Bombay Government. Thus it eventually went to the Bombay Government. There are people in one or two portions of Rajasthan still who want to go to Bombay such is Dungarpur, etc. They are Gujarati people. When this decision was taken after the Congress session was over, the Congress came into Conflict with the Ministry there and as a consequence with the States Ministry also. The Rajasthan representatives who have come here on behalf of the Congress have started this cry that Sirohi should go into Rajasthan. They have removed Shri Gokulbhai Bhatt from the Presidentship of the Congress and have also passed I vote of no-confidence against the Ministry.
