New Delhi: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday is holding a meeting of his current council of ministers.
Several state ministers are expected to resign ahead of a proposed reshuffle, news agency PTI reported official sources as saying.
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This comes after Govind Singh Dotasra, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma offered their resignations in writing to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday.
According to official sources cited by PTI, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot is expected to meet Governor Kalraj Mishra after the meeting, which was earlier slated to be held at 5 pm but was pushed to later in the evening.
The oath ceremony may take place on Sunday at Raj Bhawan, they said.
Earlier in the day, CM Ashok Gehlot and AICC general secretary in charge for Rajasthan Ajay Maken as well as PCC chief Dotasra addressed a ‘Kisan Vijay Diwas’ gathering.
After that, the Chief Minister and Rajasthan affairs in charge held a meeting at a hotel.
Ajay Maken had arrived in Jaipur last night and informed reporters about the resignation of the three ministers who, in their letter to Sonia Gandhi, expressed desire to work for the party.
While Govind Dotasra is the PCC chief, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma are in charge of the party’s affairs in Punjab and Gujarat respectively.
After their resignation, the strength of the Cabinet was reduced from 21 to 18. Rajasthan can have a maximum of 30 ministers, including the chief minister.
For several months, the clamour for a reshuffle had been growing with former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot’s camp demanding that his loyalists be accommodated in the state cabinet.
Apart from Congress MLAs, independents supporting the government and MLAs who defected from the BSP to Congress also have expectations from the reshuffle.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had recently hinted that a reshuffle will take place soon.
(With Agency Inputs)