Nomination forms for the post of Congress president poll have been collected by Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer Pawan Bansal, but Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has not done so yet, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Tuesday.
A resolution to this effect was passed unanimously in a meeting of the CLP in Chandigarh.
'If Rahul couldn't persuade his colleagues without resorting to theatrics, then maybe politics wasn't his calling
'I know, you did it all for love,' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Wednesday in an Instagram tribute showing her mother Sonia Gandhi, who on Wednesday handed the party's reins to a new Congress president, holding a photograph of the late Rajiv Gandhi.
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.
Senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha said the residence in question was built in 1942. The Delhi government's Public Works Department (PWD), after an audit, had recommended its renovation, he said.
The youngest in the CWC is 31-year-old Neeraj Kundan, who is an ex-officio member of the body as the president of the National Students Union of India, the students' wing of the party.
Several MLAs loyal to Gehlot, who was seen as the frontrunner for the post of Congress national president, had last week submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Pilot as the next chief minister.
The election of Tytler as an AICC delegate drew strong reactions from Delhi's ruling AAP and the BJP, which said it exposed the opposition party's character of creating division and chaos in the country.
According to the party leadership, it does not want to create a Punjab-like situation where it had been postponed till the last moment.
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.
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
The Union home ministry has recommended the special CAG audit taking note of a May 24 letter by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena which pointed out 'gross and prima facie financial irregularities' in the 'reconstruction' of the chief minister's official residence, they claimed.
Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain on Tuesday resigned from the Cabinet, amid corruption allegations against them.
Gehlot later told reporters that the Congress high-command will decide on the reshuffle and AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken has all the information about it.
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.
Gandhi was put in a police bus but officials did not disclose where he was being taken.
Seeking to consolidate its position in Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party is banking on independents for four additional seats and is seeking to capitalise on the infighting within the Congress in as many states in the June 10 biennial election.
This is the first time both the leaders met after Pilot openly rebelled against Gehlot a month back.
Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Hooda are the members of the pro-reform G23 group who wrote a letter to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who were present at the meeting, asked party leaders to remain united and connected with the people, sources said.
The poll panel also referred to the instances of "inappropriate vocabulary and language" used during the ongoing campaign by persons, "in particular, by those invested with the statutory status of star campaigner".
Govind Singh Dotasra, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma have already offered their resignations in writing to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday.
Senior Congress leaders Venugopal, Ajay Maken and Ashok Gehlot had on Wednesday took stock of the preparations for the Chintan Shivir.
While Karnataka Congress chief D K Sivakumar will be special observer in Goa, party general secretary Mukul Wasnik and Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo besides Vincent Pala have been deputed in Manipur for post-poll management, the sources said.
The Congress party needs a safe pair of hands in the form of Kharge, Tewari said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assured her counterpart from Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, that her party would support him in his fight against the central ordinance to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats.
Counting of votes for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana was put on hold on Friday after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Independent candidate backed by it urged the Election Commission to cancel the votes of two Congress MLAs.
The Congress accusing the Union minister of being involved in horse trading of Rajasthan MLAs.
The discussions are mostly one-on-one, party insiders said on Thursday, a day of many meetings.
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.
Speaking to the media persons in Delhi on Sunday, the Rajya Sabha member said: "I have declined the offer to be the next Punjab CM. I believe Punjab CM face should be a Sikh."
Sources said the leadership of the government going forward, if Gehlot is elected as party chief, is likely to be on the meeting agenda.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday sharpened its attack against Sports Minister Ajay Maken for allegedly misleading the Lok Sabha on appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as Commonwealth Games organising Committee head, saying the Comptroller and Auditor General report makes it clear that prime minister's office responsible for it.
Ajay Maken, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, whose first draft of the National Sports Bill had to be withdrawn following stiff opposition from Sharad Pawar, president of ICC and former BCCI president.
The BJP hit back, saying Gehlot has failed to run the government and is frustrated and making unreasonable allegations.
There are 1,349 candidates in the fray and over 1.45 crore electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to the 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the results of which may have ramifications beyond the national capital.
A day after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls, Bishnoi also said that he listened to his soul and acted on his conscience.
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 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.
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