Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's chances of becoming the next Congress President seem to be slimming in light of the recent rebellion against him by nearly 90 MLAs. Though Gehlot has apologised for the situation the recent developments have put a question mark on whether he would still run for the Congress president's post or if someone else will replace him as a candidate supported by the current leadership. According to reports, the Congress leadership is not happy with the open rebellion by MLAs close to Gehlot.
Why are MLAs revolting in Gujarat?
Gehlot loyalists had submitted resignation letters to Assembly Speaker C P Joshi on Sunday evening, in an apparent bid to put pressure on the central leadership to pick someone from the Gehlot camp as CM if the veteran leader is elected the party president.
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The loyalist MLAs indicated that they were against the appointment of Sachin Pilot, who led a rebellion against Gehlot in 2020, to the post.
On Monday, Gehlot loyalist Dhariwal accused Maken, AICC in-charge for Rajasthan, of being involved in a conspiracy to remove Gehlot as chief minister and alleged he was canvassing for Pilot.
Congress 'upset'
Sonia Gandhi is reportedly "upset" over the Rajasthan developments as Gehlot was being considered as her successor for the top post. Sources said Gehlot told the two observers that he is not behind the Jaipur development and the MLAs involved in it were not listening to him.
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On Monday, Gandhi had sought a written report on the revolt in Rajasthan from party observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken as the chances of Ashok Gehlot becoming the party chief receded and other names cropped up for the post.
Kharge and Maken, who were sent as observers to Jaipur for a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, briefed Gandhi after their return to Delhi and termed the parallel meet held by Gehlot loyalists as "indiscipline".
They are expected to recommend disciplinary action against those behind the move, including minister Shanti Dhariwal and Rajasthan Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi.
Kharge and Maken are likely to submit their report to Gandhi about the crisis in the party's state unit by Wednesday.
Conflict of interest: What did Gehlot do wrong?
The rebellion has been dubbed as "indiscipline" and many in the Congress including Ajay Maken are unhappy with Gehlot.
Accusing the MLAs in the Gehlot camp of "indiscipline", Maken said their demand setting conditions for a resolution authorising the party president to pick the next chief minister was a "conflict of interest".
In an indirect reference to Gehlot, he asked how is it possible that a person authorizing the Congress president to take a call on the next CM, himself takes a decision on it after winning the party election.
"The resolution should not have any conflict of interest,” he said, elaborating that anyone contesting the election could become party president and then decide on the resolution.
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He said there was a clear direction to them from Sonia Gandhi that "we speak to every MLA and submit a report, and then the Congress president would have taken a call after speaking to everyone".
He said representatives of some MLAs came to them in Jaipur to put forward three conditions. One of them was that the decision on the resolution would be taken after the organisational polls, and this should be part of the resolution.
“If this is not conflict of interest, then what is," he said.
If not Gehlot, then who?
While Gehlot is set to file for nomination fro the October 17 elections on Wednesday, September 28, the rebellion in Rajasthan has cast shadows on his potential candidacy. Meanwhile, new names have popped up. Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath recently met with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, stoking rumours of his possible interest in the post. However, he was quoted by media as saying that he had no interest in the post and that he had only met Gandhi to convey "Navratri wishes".
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Names of senior party leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijaya Singh, Sushilkumar Shinde, Mukul Wasnik and Kumari Selja are now also doing the rounds for the post.
(With inputs from PTI)
