Will Ashok Gehlot Remain Rajasthan CM? Venugopal Says Sonia Gandhi Will Decide This Week

Rajasthan Congress Crisis: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi is neutral pertaining to Congress president polls, said Venugopal.

Ashok Gehlot meets Sonia Gandhi (Source: AFP)

New Delhi: Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Thursday said that decision on the chief minister of Rajasthan to be decided by Congress president Sonia Gandhi within 1-2 days, as reported by new agency ANI. "Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi is neutral pertaining to Congress president polls. Let's wait for tomorrow, we'll get a clear picture," he said while talking to reporters after leaving Sonia's residence.

Delhi | Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi is neutral pertaining to Congress president polls. Let's wait for tomorrow, we'll get a clear picture: Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal pic.twitter.com/YcN2URzRnb

— ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2022

Earlier, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had met Sonia and apologized to her for not being able to hold the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Jaipur. He also said that he will no longer contest for the post of president. After meeting Sonia Gandhi at her residence '10 Janpath', Gehlot said that Sonia Gandhi would decide whether she would continue as the chief minister.

"I met Rahul Gandhi in Kochi & requested him to fight in the polls (for Congress President). When he didn't accept, I said I'll contest but now with that incident (Rajasthan Political Crisis), I've decided not to contest the elections," Gehlot said, quoted by the news agency. 

Gehlot's announcement came after he met with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi earlier today amid the political conundrum in his state since the Congress Legislature Party meeting was scheduled to take place in Jaipur.

On Sunday, the Congress had convened a meeting of party MLAs in Jaipur as part of the process to choose a successor to Gehlot but his loyalists held a "parallel meeting". 90 MLAs of the Gehlot faction, dissatisfied over Sachin Pilot's appointment as Gehlot's successor went to Rajasthan Governor's residence to submit their resignation while Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge waited for those MLAs to start the meeting. 

Three Gehlot's loyalists were later issued a show cause notice while Kharge and Maken gave a written report about the incident to Sonia Gandhi who had given clean chit to Gehlot.  

As Gehlot steps down from the contest, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh are in the fray for the new Congress President election. Both the party veterans are slated to submit their nomination papers tomorrow, September 30. 

"Received a visit from Digvijaya Singh this afternoon. I welcome his candidacy for the Presidency of our Party," Tharoor said in a tweet.

"We both agreed that ours is not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest among colleagues. All we both want is that whoever prevails, @incIndia will win!" he said.