Sachin Pilot is seeing support from the Rajasthan leadership to become the replacement of Gehlot in Rajasthan. The leader is expected to stay in Delhi and meet the party brass today, said sources.
Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha, one of the six BSP turned Congress MLAs, on Thursday said they would not oppose if Sachin Pilot is made the chief minister in case Ashok Gehlot becomes the party president and quits the CM post. Gudha, who is Minister of State for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development and considered close to Gehlot, cleared his stand that he is not with any face and said the six MLAs would support anyone whom the party high command chooses to run the government.
“We are with the decision of the party leadership. Whatever decision Sonia ji, Rahul ji and Priyanka ji take, we all six will welcome that. We are with the party,” Gudha told reporters here. “Even if Bharosi Lal ji is made (CM) by Sonia ji, we are with him,” he said when asked whether he would oppose if Sachin Pilot is made the CM. Bharosi Lal is a Congress MLA. The BSP turncoats had supported Gehlot during political crisis in July 2020 after the then deputy CM Sachin Pilot revolted against the Rajasthan CM.
The Congress on Thursday set the ball rolling for electing its chief by issuing a notification and a contest for the top party post appeared imminent after a gap of over two decades with senior leaders Ashok Gehlot and Shashi Tharoor looking set for an electoral face-off. In comments seen as yet another indication that he may not contest, Rahul Gandhi told those willing to run for the party presidency that the post was not just organisational but also “ideological” and that the person occupying it must remember that it represents a belief system.
Gandhi also batted for the “one-man, one-post” concept in line with the Chintan Shivir reforms earlier this year. His assertion came a day after Gehlot hinted that he would like to continue as the chief minister even while assuming the post of party president. Gandhi’s definitive remark indicated that Gehlot may have to quit as chief minister if he takes on the mantle of party president but suspense persisted over whether he would get a person of his choice to helm the Rajasthan government, or the post would go to his bete noire Sachin Pilot.
With inputs from News18
The post Pilot makes bid for CM post as replacement to Gehlot first appeared on IPA Newspack.
