Leadership tussle
Ashok Gehlot risks losing Congress presidential nomination over Chief Minister’s post
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has dug in his heels over not allowing Sachin Pilot to replace him as state chief minister. Battle lines are drawn between him and the Gandhi family with MLAs loyal to him refusing to sign the resolution authorising party’s central leadership to pick his replacement in the event of his election as Congress president. Interim president Sonia Gandhi had sent AICC general secretary Ajay Maken and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to Jaipur to get party MLAs to sign the resolution. But MLAs loyal to Gehlot have refused to sign on the dotted lines. They insist that the new chief minister should be from among the 102 MLAs who had refused to bring the state government down when Sachin Pilot had walked out with a bunch of his loyal MLAs to form a government with the help of the BJP. Gehlot’s loyal MLAs, numbering about a 100, have threatened to resign rather than support Sachin. Gehlot has not reacted to this open rebellion by his supporters. Sources said the Gehlot camp’s action has not gone down well with the party high command. They said the party leadership is rethinking fielding Gehlot as a candidate for the post of party president. Gehlot had earlier said that his resignation as chief minister before getting elected as party president would indicate that the election result was pre-determined, and the party poll was not really a democratic exercise. He said let there be a fair election, and once he gets elected as president, he would resign as chief minister. Sonia and Rahul are keen on handing over the chief ministership to Sachin Pilot.
2024 Semi-finals
EC to announce Gujarat, HP poll dates on Oct 15
The Election Commission of India is likely to sound the poll bugle for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh on October 15, unlike last time when it had announced the poll dates for the two states separately in spite of the fact that the term of the two assemblies expired within a gap of two weeks. EC officials are likely to visit Gujarat on September 26 to check the poll preparedness of the state. The EC team has already visited Himachal Pradesh. The last assembly elections in Gujarat were held in December 2017, and the schedule is likely to remain the same this time. The election in Gujarat is being keenly watched as the new entrant - Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party – is threatening to eat into the votes of both the BJP and the Congress. The BJP has a strong presence in the urban centres, and has been in power since 1998. The Congress, however, continues to have a large following in the rural areas in spite of not being in power for over two decades. In the last state elections, the BJP polled 49.1 % and won 99 seats, while the Congress got 41.4% and won 77 seats. The AAP remained a non-starter with 0.1% votes and without a seat. Kejriwal has, however, launched a high-voltage campaign in Gujarat this year striking fear in both the BJP and the Congress, not because they think he will win but because they do not know who he will harm more.
Accommodation issues
PM’s meeting with Digambar Kamat stirs Goa POT
Seven-time Goa MLA and former chief minister of the state Digambar Kamat flew into the national capital and was locked in a two-and-half-hour meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence last week. Though not many know about this one-on-one meeting, those in the know say Kamat may be given an important assignment either in the state or at the Centre. They say he has had excellent relations with Modi from the time he was in the BJP. He recently led eight out of the eleven Congress MLAs into the BJP. There are reports of an imminent ministry reshuffle to accommodate the new entrants in the state government. Sources close to Kamat say the former chief minister and veteran MLA is too senior to be asked to join as a minister. They say that he has been assured that he will get his due for decimating the Congress in the state legislature. While Kamat getting the state chief ministership is not ruled out, the chances of him being brought to the centre as a minister in the next reshuffle are stronger, sources say.