The Congress on Saturday named 22 more candidates for the Rajasthan assembly polls and denied ticket to Public Health Engineering Department Minister Mahesh Joshi from his Hawa Mahal constituency in Jaipur.
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.
Gehlot's remark hinted at a possible thaw between the two senior Congress leaders after years of political tussle.
Congress observers for Rajasthan on Tuesday recommended disciplinary action against three party leaders, including two ministers, for the crisis in the state, but did not seek any action against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Rajasthan minister and key Gehlot-loyalist Shanti Dhariwal on Monday launched a frontal attack on Congress's state in-charge Ajay Maken, alleging that he was talking to party MLAs in a partisan manner and canvassing for Sachin Pilot.
After the meeting, Kharge said that there should be discipline in the party and the party has to be kept united.
Congress leader Ajay Maken has written to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, expressing his unwillingness to continue as the in-charge of Rajasthan, sources said on Wednesday.
Former Rajasthan minister Rajendra Singh Gudha claimed that Congress leaders dragged him out of the state assembly on Monday.
Rajasthan minister Shanti Dhariwal has said love affair was a reason behind many suicide cases among students, including a 16-year-old girl who died at her hostel recently, provoking her father to ask him for evidence.
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.
The Rajasthan assembly was adjourned for an hour on Thursday following the ruckus by opposition members protesting against derogatory comments made by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal.
Amid internal rumblings in the Punjab and Chhattisgarh Congress, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said his government will complete its full five-year tenure.
An unease has set in the Rajasthan Congress with its senior leader Ajay Maken quitting as the state in-charge ahead of the assembly polls scheduled next year, with party sources saying that he has been asked to continue on the post.
The development suggested a worsening power struggle between the chief minister and Sachin Pilot who was tipped to be Gehlot's replacement after he declared his candidature for the Congress president's post.
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.
Two ministers who raised the banner of revolt with former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot during the political crisis also find their names in the list.
"Whoever said all those words you mentioned, I did not respond in kind because it is not the way I am built and we now have to move on, let bygones be bygones, whatever was said, we need to forget and move forward. It is not about individuals or positions or someone's statements now. It is about the country and the party," Pilot said.
The Rajasthan assembly on Tuesday witnessed pandemonium after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that government had unduly favoured Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in land deals in the state.
The Rajasthan assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution to create a legislative council in the state in order to provide "extensive" representation to the people. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal moved a resolution for the same in the assembly, which was passed by a majority of votes.
'I was never why I was denied a ticket to contest the assembly elections.'
Fresh round of talks between the agitating Gujjars and Rajasthan government began in Jaipur on Sunday night at the state secretariat to resolve the 14-day-old stir by the community demanding 5 per cent reservation in government jobs.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will meet the Congress high command in New Delhi on Wednesday amid suspense over whether he will file nomination for the post of party president, sources in Jaipur said.
Two rounds of talks lasting nearly two hours between a Gujjar delegation and Rajasthan government emissaries -- Energy Minister Jitendra Singh and Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal -- failed to break the impasse and Gujjar leaders staged a walkout.
The Rajasthan government claimed that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Indresh Kumar, whose name figures in the chargesheet in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case, provided "guidelines" on how to go about carrying out the explosion.
The Congress in Rajasthan plunged into a crisis on Sunday as several MLAs loyal to Ashok Gehlot submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Sachin Pilot as the next chief minister, their rebellion erupting just ahead of a Congress Legislature Party meeting.
Ashok Gehlot has proved that a strong state leader can challenge the Congress high command.
Upset over an open rebellion in Rajasthan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday sought a written report on it from party observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken as the chances of Ashok Gehlot becoming the party chief receded and other names cropped up for the post.
While Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia accused the Congress of being behind the demolition, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra asserted that it was the decision of the city's municipality headed by the saffron party.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and some of his cabinet colleagues, including Shanti Dhariwal, figure in the list of 63 Congress candidates for the forthcoming assembly polls, announced by the All India Congress Committee.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot arrived in the national capital on Tuesday amid a buzz of a likely meeting with the party high command that is grappling with the high political drama in the state.
On the other hand, another minister, Rajendra Singh Gudha, once again endorsed senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot's name for the chief minister's post.
Congress in-charge for Rajasthan Ajay Maken on Monday slammed the MLAs loyal to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for setting conditions for a party resolution, terming it a "conflict of interest", and said their decision to hold a parallel meeting amounted to indiscipline.
Amid the ongoing political turmoil in the Congress in Rajasthan, the party's chief whip in the state, Mahesh Joshi, on Tuesday said a meeting of the MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was not called to mount pressure on the party high command.
A video purportedly of a meeting of the Congress MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has surfaced.
These are the 15 seats to watch out for in Rajasthan where assembly elections will be held on November 23. The state has 200 constituencies.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday sacked Rajendra Gudha as minister of state, hours after he cornered the state government in the assembly.
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.
He showed a video of Solanki and Poonia purportedly entering a hotel and exiting a hotel room one after the other.
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.
Supporters of the two leaders are competing in Hadoti to highlight their dominance, which is visible from the hoardings in the region. This has also led to blame games between leaders of the two factions.
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