Team News Riveting
Jaipur, September 25
Amidst a high voltage drama in Rajasthan ahead of change of guard, state Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra resigned while 92 legislators loyal to chief minister Ashok Gehlot have offered to quit.
A flurry of political activities took place Sunday evening as a group of Congress MLAs affiliated to Gehlot went to the assembly speaker’s residence to submit their resignation ahead of a legislature party meeting. With the Rajasthan chief minister likely to be the next Congress chief, the legislature party is likely to pick his successor to head Rajasthan.
The development spilled out a worsening power struggle between the chief minister and Sachin Pilot, who is tipped to be Gehlot’s successor after he declared his candidature for the Congress president’s post.
Congress observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken, along with Gehlot, reached the chief minister’s residence where the Congress Legislature Party meeting was to be held. Pilot later arrived. About 25 legislators were present in the meeting.
However, a large group of MLAs loyal to the chief minister who held a meeting at Minister Shanti Dhariwal’s residence decided to go to Speaker C P Joshi’s residence to submit their resignation.
“We are going to the speaker’s residence in a bus and will submit our resignation,” state minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told reporters. Sources claimed there were around 80 MLAs, including Independents, in the group.
https://e574f225e4bc0160bf04d66f8a7c615a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html The MLAs played a big card and firmly advocated that someone who was instrumental in saving the government during the political crisis in 2020 should be given the command and not someone who was involved in the bid to topple it. The campaign is aimed to side line Pilot.
Senior Congress leader Govind Ram Meghwal said Gehlot could shoulder the responsibilities of both, the chief minister as well as the party’s national president.
