It will interesting to see whether Gehlot makes way for Sachin Pilot to take over the reigns or if the third-time CM will have a say in the issue.
The Congress is scheduled to hold a meeting of its legislature party in Rajasthan at Ashok Gehlot’s residence at 7 pm today, where it is expected to pick the successor of the chief minister who is set to contest the party presidential polls next month.
It will interesting to see whether Gehlot makes way for his bitter rival Sachin Pilot to take over the reigns or if the third-time CM will have a say in deciding the issue.
Gehlot is said to have been reluctant towards contesting the party’s internal election, owing to the fact that if elected as the party president, he will have to cede the CM post to his bete noir.
While Gehlot pushed for continuing with a double role as CM and party chief, Rahul Gandhi made it clear that the party’s resolve on ‘one person-one post’ will have to be followed. It is believed that Gehlot, if he is to give up the CM post, would want a loyalist to succeed him.
Gehlot loyalists are demanding that he should be allowed to stay on as CM if he becomes the Congress president. On the other hand, Pilot camp says that Sachin is the frontrunner in the race and deserves to be made the CM.
Notably, some of the party’s Rajasthan MLAs, who were considered to be close to Gehlot, backed Sachin Pilot for the Chief Minister’s post. Among them were state Rural Development Minister Rajendra Singh Gudha. BSP-turned-Congress MLA Wajib Ali, too, came out in support of Pilot. He had met Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi on Friday amid speculation of a change of guard in the state.
Times of India quoted sources saying that the legislature party is likely to pass a resolution to authorise the Congress president to nominate the new chief minister.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed Mallikarjun Kharge as observer along with general secretary in-charge Rajasthan Ajay Maken. They will attend the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal said on Saturday.
While Pilot is the main contender for the post, Joshi's name is also doing the rounds.
Joshi is a former state Congress president and was a contender for the post in 2008 but lost the Assembly elections by one vote at that time.
After over two decades, the Congress is set to see a contest for the post of party chief with Gehlot, who has announced his candidature, expected to take on Shashi Tharoor, who had the nomination forms collected from AICC headquarters in Delhi on Saturday.
According to a notification issued by the party on Thursday, the process for filing nominations for the election will be held from September 24 to 30.
The date for scrutiny of the nomination papers is October 1, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. The final list of candidates will be published at 5 pm on October 8. The polling, if needed, will be held on October 17. The counting of votes will be taken up on October 19 and the results will be declared the same day.
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 "Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot with Rahul Gandhi - File Photo")
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