The Rajasthan police cauldron is boiling again as the succession battle for Chief Minister is gaining ground.
As expected, the supporters of CM Ashok Gehlot are not ready to budge on the choice of the chief minister, should Gehlot become the president of the Congress party.
Around 60 MLAs, who are supporters of Gehlot, are meeting at the house of urban development and housing minister Shanti Dhariwal in Jaipur late on Sunday evening.
The meeting, held ahead of the Congress legislative party meeting to select Gehlot’s successor, is seen as a show of strength by CM’s supporters to Congress’ high command.
Sources said that Gehlot and its supporters have indicated that the government will not function and they might withdraw support from it if the high command named any MLA who had supported Sachin Pilot during his unsuccessful rebellion against Gehlot.
In 2020, Pilot led a revolt against his government. He was removed from the post of Deputy Chief Minister as well as the post of party state unit chief. However, according to party sources, Sonia Gandhi has stated unequivocally that she will remain neutral in the elections for the position of party president.
It has been revealed that the vast majority of the 102 MLAs support Gehlot.
Independent MLA Sanyam Lodha, who is backing Congress in the state, has made it clear that the CM should be a person who is supported by all the MLAs, otherwise the government cannot function.
MLA Krishna Poonia, a two-time Olympian, also arrived at the meeting. The acclaimed discus thrower refused to admit that it was a show of power. “Congress high command will decide who will become the next CM of the state,” the Commonwealth Games gold medalist said.
Incidentally, Gehlot had called a meeting at his residence late in the evening. However, with most of the MLAs turning out at Dhariwal’s residence, it will be interesting to see what course of action the divided Congress takes.