JOIN USAshok Gehlot meets Sonia, says will contest Congress presidential polls if Rahul Gandhi doesn’t
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday made it clear that he will contest the Congress presidential polls if Rahul Gandhi remains adamant in not entering the fray. However, the question on whether the veteran leader make way for his bete noir Sachin Pilot or pressurise central leadership to install his loyalist in the state remained unclear.
Gehlot met party chief Sonia Gandhi here for about two hours in the evening to discuss organisational polls with Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and Treasurer Pawan Bansal but only after telling reporters that the ‘one person, one post’ decision of Udaipur conclave was for nominated posts and not for positions in the party where elections are held.
The Chief Minister, who is likely to take on senior MP Shashi Tharoor in the organisational polls, will fly to Kochi on Thursday and join the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Angamaly in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. Interestingly, Pilot will also be with Rahul on Thursday when Gehlot, who flew to Mumbai after his meeting with Sonia, joins the yatra.
Gehlot’s meeting with Sonia came a day after his late night meeting with Congress MLAs in Jaipur where he gave indications that he will file nominations for the presidential elections if his last ditch effort to convince Rahul to change his mind on elections fails. He had indicated that in case he has to file nominations, he will do it on September 26 and asked them to present in Delhi on the occasion.
Incidentally, hours before Gehlot arrived at Sonia’s residence, Tharoor met party’s Central Election Authority Chairperson Madhusudan Mistry to enquire about voters’ list, election agent and nomination formalities. Mistry said Tharoor was satisfied with the responses and will be sending his representative to collect nomination papers on September 24.
There was no official word on the meeting Gehlot had with Sonia even as the former appeared not willing to let the Chief Ministership go out of his hand and especially, to Pilot. Sources said Gehlot is of the view that he should be allowed to continue as Chief Minister for some more months.
On his arrival in Delhi, he told reporters that there was no contradiction in a leader assuming the posts of Congress president and Chief Ministership or Ministership at the same time, as they were elected posts. He was responding to a question whether keeping the posts of Chief Minister and Congress president could be a violation of the Udaipur Declaration.
“This applies to nominated posts by the High Command only. The presidential poll is an open election. Anybody among the over 9,000 PCC delegates, irrespective of whether that person is MP, MLA or minister, can contest,” he said.
"I am very fortunate that I have got the love and affection of Congress people across the country and they have faith in me. If they ask me to fill the form (nomination), I will not be able to refuse...Will speak with friends. I was given the responsibility of being Rajasthan chief minister, I am fulfilling that responsibility as a CM and will continue to do so," he said.