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Gandhis upset over rebellion, Ashok Gehlot ruled out of Congress presidential polls

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 27 Sep 2022, 08:00 am

New Delhi: A rebellion by his loyalists has cost Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot the Congress chief's post as the veteran leader has been ruled out of the upcoming presidential elections of the party, media reports said.

The Gandhi family, which is holding the Congress' reign for decades either directly or indirectly, is upset with the rebellion by 92 Rajasthan MLAs, who have refused to accept Gehlot's critic Sachin Pilot as the next Chief Minister of the desert state.

The Congress top brass is reportedly unhappy after senior party leaders Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge, who went to Jaipur to resolve the crisis Monday, returned to the national capital empty hands after the rebel MLAs did not turn up in the meeting.

Even as Gehlot apologised to central observer Mallikarjun Kharge, who was in Jaipur yesterday, for the parallel meeting of the MLAs and their subsequent rebellion, he maintained that he had no role in it.

He said the rebellion was a "mistake", and it "should not have happened", but Kharge made it clear the MLAs couldn't have made such a strong move without his consent, reported NDTV.

The revolting MLAs held a meeting at MLA Shanti Dhariwal's residence and passed a resolution that they would quit if Pilot was appointed Chief Minister .

They raised the issue of Pilot's rebellion in 2020 and asserted that the Chief Minister should be picked up from among those who supported the government at that time.

They insisted that the meeting to choose the next Chief Minister should be held after the next Congress president is elected.

To this, Ajay Maken said, "It would be a conflict of interest as the resolution would be passed when Ashok Gehlot may already be party chief. So, he empowers himself to decide on his own successor in Rajasthan."