'And once someone is dead in a family the ritual is to shave your head.'
Lokesh Sharma, the former OSD of Rajasthan's ex-chief minister Ashok Gehlot, has turned approver in a phone tapping case that happened during the political crisis in the state in 2020. Sharma was accused of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telephonic conversations. He has alleged that Gehlot was involved in tapping of phones and gave evidence to support his claim. Sharma claims that he was directed by Gehlot to circulate recordings of phone calls to the media.
"I sometimes think of leaving it, but the chief minister's post doesn't leave me," Ashok Gehlot famously said earlier this year, in part as a signal to the Congress top brass not to pick someone else for the job if the party wins the assembly polls.
Sources close to Gehlot said that Rahul Gandhi is his first choice for the top party post.
Whatever the outcome of the assembly election in Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot is firmly ensconced in the Congress inner circle.
Rahul Gandhi is marching with a positive thought, it is a positive yatra. There is no violence, no hatred. If you are not showing this yatra, you are not fulfilling your dut
How C P Joshi is scuttling the Rajasthan chief minister's bid to retain office. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
'They have been disturbed. They say something, do something else,' says Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Ashok Gehlot, who led the Congress to victory in the Rajasthan election, has emerged as the frontrunner for the chief minister's post. The Congress is the single largest party with 96 seats, five short of the 101 needed for a simple majority. But there are other aspirants for the chief minister's post. State party president C P Joshi, who lost the Nathdwara constituency by a single vote, is one. He said the party need not necessarily nominate a winning candidate.
Supporters of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot on Thursday got into a scuffle with each other ahead of a feedback meeting with the party workers in Ajmer, the police said.
Internal discord within the INDIA bloc has led to alliance partners contesting against each other in at least eight assembly seats in Bihar. The Congress, RJD, and Left parties are facing challenges in seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming elections.
Ashok Gehlot, who spearheaded the Congress campaign and brought it back to power in the assembly elections in Rajasthan, was on Saturday sworn in as chief minister for a second term in office.Gehlot, 57, who was the chief minister between 1998 and 2003, was sworn in at a public ceremony in front of a large number of Congressmen by Governor S K Singh. He was the only one to take oath today.
Self-effacing and a grassroots man, Ashok Gehlot worked untiringly for rebuilding the party from a scratch since 2003 when it was ousted from power in Rajasthan where caste rivalries sought to redraw political equations like never before in the recent past.
Ashok Gehlot convinced the RJD leadership that the Congress had no issue about declaring Tejashwi as the Mahagathbandan's chief minister face.
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.
Ashok Gehlot may have the image of a politician with his ears to the ground but his populist policies and programmes have not yielded dividends in the elections in Rajasthan where the ruling Congress suffered a massive defeat.
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.
However, Gehlot, said he will make one last-ditch effort to convince Rahul to take up the party president's post.
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 Gurjar organisation on Thursday called off its agitation over reservation after reaching a consensus with the Rajasthan government, a community leader said.
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.
A profile of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
Gehlot's remark hinted at a possible thaw between the two senior Congress leaders after years of political tussle.
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.
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.
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.
A day before the assembly poll results, the Congress on Friday appointed observers for Maharashtra and Jharkhand to oversee the post-election scenarios.
He said Gehlot could tell how he got the call recordings and whether the call interceptions were done legally or not.
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.
Our campaign was overshadowed by the falsehood and rumours that the BJP spread, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot tells PB Chandra in an interview.
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.
Bihar's opposition Mahagathbandhan is experiencing internal conflict following their defeat in the recent assembly elections. Congress leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with their alliance with the RJD, leading to a blame game and further disarray within the opposition camp.
'They wanted to prove that the BJP was behind all this, which was not the case. Then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot even said that no one was listening to them even when they wanted to tell their side of the story, so they all got together and reached the party's high command'
While the going for Dushyant Singh in Jhalawar is not tough, winning Jalore is a tough battle for Vaibhav Gehlot.
Even if D K Shivakumar wanted to oust Siddaramaiah, whose support would he take?
The shrewd politician that he is, Siddaramaiah figured his rival had no option but to lump it, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Tejashwi who is meeting senior Conngress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday is expected to be announced as the CM face of the Mahabgathbandhan on Thursday.
This is the second major road accident in Rajasthan in as many days. At least 15 people, including 10 women and four children, died and two others were injured when a tempo traveller rammed into a stationary trailer truck in Phalodi area on Sunday evening.
As US President Donald Trump claimed that India will significantly reduce Russian oil imports by year-end, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday hit back by criticising him for making announcements on behalf of New Delhi.
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