Jaipur: The internal tussle of Congress over who will succeed Ashok Gehlot as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan if he becomes the party president took a new turn late on Sunday night with 76 Congress MLAs submitting their resignation to Speaker CP Joshi, Congress sources said.
In an indirect reference to Sachin Pilot, the concerned MLAs made it clear that if there is an attempt to make any leader who tried to topple the government in 2020, then they will not accept it. Sources said that the rebel MLAs are not willing to hold any discussion with the Congress High Command until the new Congress president is elected.
However, Speaking to ETV Bharat Congress Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi said "Yes, the MLAs have resigned. But there is no allegation in their resignation. We have not given any message to the High Command saying that we will not hold any discussion before the next Congress president is elected."
"We have not defied the High Command. We have full faith in the High Command. Our faith in Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will always remain intact. We conveyed our message to High Command through the party observers. We will go by the High Command's directions," he added.
As the MLAs submitted their resignation Gehlot and Congress observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken waited for all legislators to arrive for the CLP meeting. Although Pilot and his supporters arrived, the meeting did not take place.
Sources in the Gehlot camp claimed that over 90 MLAs went to the Speaker's residence. Congress has 108 MLAs in the 200-member Assembly. Late on Sunday night Kharge and Maken tried to convince the Gehlot loyalists to meet them one on one, if not as part of the planned MLAs' meeting.
Ministers Shanti Dhariwal, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Mahesh Joshi, along with CM Gehlot's advisor Sanyam Lodha met the AICC observers, but the standoff continued.
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On their return, sources said, they told the other loyalists that they had put forth three conditions. They wanted the decision on the next CM to be left till after the Congress organisational election and stressed that Gehlot should have a say in picking the new CM who should be someone who stood by the veteran leader during the rebellion by Pilot supporters in 2020.
Around midnight, the loyalists began dispersing from Joshi's home. "We have submitted our resignation and are now going home. The MLAs want that any decision on the CM's should be taken only after the election of the party's national president," Minister Govind Ram Meghwal said.
The loyalists said the views of MLAs should be taken into account. Later, whatever decision taken by the high command will be accepted, independent MLA Babulal Nagar said.
Congress insiders revealed that the revolt of the MLAs has not gone down well with the party High Command and action may be taken against some of the disgruntled MLAs.
