The development comes on a day when Ms Gandhi is also expected to meet Mr Gehlot’s rival, Sachin Pilot.
The development comes on a day when Ms Gandhi is also expected to meet Mr Gehlot’s rival, Sachin Pilot.
Senior Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has decided to opt out from the party’s presidential polls. He also apologised to party president Sonia Gandhi and took up moral responsibility for the political crisis in his State.
The development comes on a day when Ms Gandhi is also expected to meet Mr Gehlot’s rival, Sachin Pilot.
The Rajasthan Chief Minister, who had earlier announced his decision to contest the presidential polls, was scheduled to file his nomination papers on September 28.
But the plan derailed as lawmakers loyal to him refused to back the high command’s decision of backing Mr Pilot as Mr Gehlot’s successor to head the Rajasthan government.
Their refusal to attend a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting not only forced the Congress to issue a show-cause notice to three Gehlot aides — Cabinet Minister Shanti Dhariwal, Minister and Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore.
Arriving in Delhi late on Wednesday evening, Mr Gehlot had told reporters that they have always worked with discipline and “small issues and internal politics within the family will be resolved”.
While Mr Gehlot was informally endorsed by the Gandhi family as their choice for the party’s top post, the revolt by Gehlot loyalists prompted Congress’ top leadership to adopt a multi-pronged approach.
Senior leaders Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma reached out to Mr Gehlot for rapproachment with Ashok Gehlot, while a plan to look at an alternate candidate was effected.
But in a clear sign of Mr Gehlot’s defiance, two senior MLAs in Jaipur held a press conference where they accused AICC’s Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken of trying to “reward those who were hell bent on bringing down the Ashok Gehlot government in July 2020 by colluding with the BJP”.
Digvijaya too in the race
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, on September 29, 2022, collected the nomination papers for the post of president from the party headquarters in New Delhi. File
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Moments before Mr. Gehlot called on Ms. Gandhi, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on September 29, 2022 collected the nomination form to contest the party’s presidential polls. Mr Singh will file his nomination on September 30, 2022 the last day before the nomination process comes to an end by 3 pm.
Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor is the other contender who has collected to form and declared his intention to contest the polls.
