Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday met Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav, apparently with the mandate to defuse tensions with the ally, which has plunged the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) into turmoil in poll-bound Bihar.
The Rajasthan Cricket Association is headed by Vaibhav Gehlot, the CM's son, so papa's presence at the match was perhaps not that surprising.
The Rajasthan government has ordered a high-level inquiry into allegations against three legislators seeking commissions for the release of MLA funds, freezing their accounts pending the investigation.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav will address joint rallies before the first Phase of voting and, after that, for the seats in the second Phase of voting, they added.
A major fire near the main unit of the newly built Rajasthan refinery of HPCL has postponed the inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The fire, which broke out near the crude distillation unit, was doused in about two hours with no reported casualties.
Gehlot accused Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of creating a new model in the country's politics of toppling elected governments through "horse trading", such as in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa and Manipur.
Look carefully at Gehlot and Pilot's faces at Tuesday's press conference at the Pradesh Congress committee office on Hospital Road in Jaipur, and you can guess how long the truce will last.
Twenty passengers were burnt alive and 16 were critically injured when a private bus travelling from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur caught fire on Tuesday, police said.
'Ashok Gehlot is a senior and experienced political leader. Whatever differences he has expressed with his younger colleague Sachin Pilot will be resolved in a manner that strengthens the Congress party,' All India Congress Committee general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.
Gehlot launched a scathing attack on Pilot dubbing him a 'gaddar' (traitor) and said he can never be made the chief minister of the state.
Infighting between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot has been out in the open throughout the Congress term.
The Congress is yet to declare candidates on a majority seats as its Central Election Committee will meet on Sunday to finalise names for more seats.
At least 15 people died and two others were injured when a tempo traveller carrying devotees rammed into a stationary trailer truck in Rajasthan's Phalodi on Sunday, police said.
As the election dates come closer, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav is likely to be announced as the chief ministerial candidate by the opposition Mahagathbandhan on Thursday.
'Gehlot made it a Modi versus Gehlot contest. It was for the first time in a northern Indian state where the prime minister had to confront a chief minister.'
With the deepening political crisis in Rajasthan over the appointment of Ashok Gehlot's successor, Congress Working Committee members have demanded from Sonia Gandhi to pull the state chief minister out of the race for the party chief and select another candidate for the top post, sources said on Monday.
The federal agency issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot (43) last week, asking him to appear before the investigating officer of the case at its headquarters on A P J Abdul Kalam Road here under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
After the meeting, Kharge said that there should be discipline in the party and the party has to be kept united.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has condemned the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh and urged the Indian government to raise the issue of the safety of Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities with the Bangladeshi government.
Mohammad Javed, one of the accused in the tailor Kanhaiya Lal murder case in Rajasthan's Udaipur in 2022, was on Thursday granted bail by the Rajasthan high court. Reacting to the development, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party used the case to gain electoral advantage, whereas BJP leader Rajendra Rathore said his party's government was committed to punishing the culprits behind the murder.
The meeting was attended by Congress in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Randhawa, CM Gehlot, RPCC president Govind Singh Dotasra and other leaders.
With party observers slamming some actions of loyalists of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, sources said decision on issuing show cause notices to miffed MLAs, who have been vocal in public, will be taken after interim chief looks Sonia Gandhi into the report by the observers sent to the state.
A banner at the venue of a Mahagathbandhan press conference in Patna, featuring only Tejashwi Yadav, has sparked controversy due to the absence of other INDIA bloc leaders' photos. This comes amid seat-sharing negotiations for the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.
Ashok Gehlot, widely seen as the Congress's ruling family's nominee for the Congress president's post, bunged a spanner in the works when his MLA supporters submitted their resignations on Sunday night to assembly Speaker C P Joshi.
Seventeen of the 25 ministers in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan, including Govind Ram Meghwal, who also led the party's campaign committee, lost in the assembly elections.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday sacked Rajendra Gudha as minister of state, hours after he cornered the state government in the assembly.
The agency has also summoned Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot for questioning in a case related to alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law, official sources said on Thursday.
The complaint against CM's son Vaibhav Gehlot and a man described as the younger Gehlot's business associate seeks action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
' The BJP is misusing the ED and CBI and all other central institutions. Rahul Gandhi's disqualification was planned by them'
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot loyalist and state cabinet Minister Pratap Khachariyawas on Monday said that the Congress workers are attempting to save their party and have to be prepared to "spill blood on the roads" against the Bharatiya Janata Party which, he alleged, wants to "topple" the state government.
The INDIA bloc in Bihar has announced Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate, signaling a united front after weeks of internal disagreements. The move aims to challenge the incumbent NDA government, with both sides engaging in political maneuvering and accusations.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday filed a criminal complaint before a Delhi court accusing Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of defaming him with remarks on the Sanjivani scam.
"There was 90 percent blockage in one of his coronary arteries and one stent was placed successfully. He is absolutely fine," Dr Sudhir Bhandari, principal of the SMS medical college, told reporters.
The meetings come days after an open rebellion by Gehlot loyalists over a possible leadership change in the state, clouding Gehlot's chances of running for the presidency.
Pilot said Gehlot has been calling him 'nikamma, naakara, gaddar and so on' but it was not part of his upbringing to use such language.
While condemning the incident of Manipur where two women were paraded naked and molested, Modi on Thursday made a reference to states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in context of law and order.
The fact that Gehlot has stayed relevant these five years with his populist schemes is one reason why he may beat incumbency in a state that votes for change every election, observes Ramesh Menon.
Reacting to Modi's comments, Sachin Pilot had said that there is no need for anyone other than his party and the people to worry about him.
"Even Shashi Tharoor had said it is a friendly match and after elections Congress will be the winner," Gehlot said.
The FIR was registered on Saturday based on a complaint filed by Congress leader and former MLA Surendra Singh Jadawat.
