Chaos in Congress: Suspense continues over who will helm Rajasthan; more leaders join presidential race

New Delhi: While suspense continued over whether Ashok Gehlot will be able to retain his position as chief minister in Rajasthan on Thursday, the high-voltage day for the Congress party ended with senior leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot meeting party president Sonia Gandhi. Here’s everything that you need to know:

Gehlot apologises, pulls out of race

Ashok Gehlot met Gandhi at her residence and apologised and took moral responsibility for the recent events in Rajasthan.

After his half-an-hour meeting with Gandhi, Gehlot accompanied by AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal told reporters that he apologised to the Congress chief for the developments in Rajasthan where some MLAs loyal to him held a parallel meeting and set some conditions to the party high command.

“In the last 50 years, I have worked as a loyal Congress soldier from the time of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, and Soniaji, be it becoming a central minister or state unit chief, general secretary, or CM for the third time, I cannot forget that. The events that happened (on Sunday) have shaken all of us. Only I know how hurt I am because a message went that I want to remain CM,” Gehlot said.

“I have apologised to Soniaji because a simple resolution, which is our tradition and which we always pass, a situation emerged that it could not be passed. I, as a CLP leader, whatever the reasons, could not get the resolution passed,” he said.

Gehlot also announced that he will not contest the Congress presidential polls after taking moral responsibility for the political crisis in his state. “I have decided that I will not contest the Congress president’s election as I take moral responsibility for the events that took place on Sunday,” he said.

Digvijaya Singh joins the fray

As soon as Gehlot pulled out of the presidential race, Digvijaya Singh entered the fray for the Congress president’s election. He said he would file his nomination on Friday. It, however, remained unclear whether he or someone else would have the backing of Sonia Gandhi as her successor, with sources saying a Dalit candidate could emerge as a dark horse for the top party post.

Interestingly Singh said, ‘The Nehru-Gandhi family will remain our leader. Whoever becomes the party president will work under their leadership.’

Shashi Tharoor, who too will file his nomination on Friday, met Singh and the two leaders said theirs would not be a contest of rivals but of friends and the Congress will finally win.

Sachin Pilot meets Sonia Gandhi

The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister met Gandhi and said he discussed the events in the state in detail and expressed his sentiments on the situation.

Pilot spent around an hour at Gandhi’s residence and also conveyed his feedback to her. “I met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and we discussed the events in Rajasthan in detail,” Pilot said after meeting the Congress chief, adding, “I have conveyed my sentiments, given my feedback to Sonia Gandhi. Our priority is to win 2023 Assembly polls in Rajasthan for which we will have to work together.”

“Whatever positive decisions have to be taken with respect to Rajasthan, Congress president will take,” Pilot said when asked about the action to be taken by the party after the events in Rajasthan.

More names in the air

Gehlot dropping out of the race means a third candidate for Congress president can join the fray. Sources said Mallikarjun Kharge is being considered a frontrunner for the post and will be meeting Gandhi Friday morning. The names of Mukul Wasnik and Kumari Selja are also doing the rounds.

Former minister in Jharkhand KN Tripathi also collected a set of nomination papers for the top party post on Thursday.

Stern advisory

The day also witnessed the Congress releasing an advisory, saying the party is noticing statements of Congress leaders in Rajasthan regarding the party’s internal matters and against other leaders.

“It is advised that all Congress leaders at any level should refrain from making public statements against other leaders or about Party’s internal matters. Strict disciplinary action will be initiated under the provisions of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress if any violation of this advisory is made,” the advisory said.

Other meetings

The day saw hectic political meetings starting with Mukul Wasnik meeting Gehlot and Tariq Anwar meeting AK Antony. Both Antony and Anwar are chairmen and member secretaries of the party’s disciplinary committee, which has issued show cause notices to three party leaders in Rajasthan. Pilot is also learnt to have held meetings with some party leaders. Congress G23 camp leaders, including Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, BS Hooda also held a meeting at the residence of Anand Sharma.

Issue at heart

These developments come after more than 90 MLAs threatened mass resignation over reports that if Gehlot ran for Congress president, he would be replaced by his rival Pilot in Rajasthan. The MLAs laid out conditions before two central leaders, Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge, who described the rebellion as “gross indiscipline” in their report to Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress wanted Gehlot to step down as Rajasthan chief minister before running for Congress president. He was also told that he must respect the leadership’s choice of who will replace him in Rajasthan.

The former wanted to keep his CM job even while running for party chief. Rahul Gandhi last week made it clear that is not possible as the party would stick to its resolve of “one person, one post”.

Nominations close on Friday for the first Congress election in over two decades with non-Gandhi candidates. Polling for the post will take place on 17 October and the result will be announced on 19 October.

With input from agencies

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