With more than 90 MLAs loyal to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Ghelot threatening to resign, Congress leader Ajay Maken called it 'indiscipline'. Maken, along with Mallikarjun Kharge, arrived in Jaipur to meet Gehlot loyalists and end the impasse.
Gehlot loyalists have threatened to resign over reports that he will be replaced by rival Sachin Pilot as chief minister if he moves on to the role of Congress president.
The MLAs skipped a meeting called by the central leaders on Sunday evening, and held a separate meeting.
"It is indisciplinary to call a meeting parallelly when an official meeting is already called. We'll see what actions can be taken."
Speaking to mediapersons about the latest turmoil within the Congress party, AICC observer Maken said that only three MLAs—Pratap Khachariyawas, S. Dhariwal and C.P. Joshi—met them, and put forth three demands. “One was to announce the implementation of resolution of handing over the responsibility (to appoint CM) to Congress President after October 19,” Maken said, adding that it was a 'conflict of interest'. They also placed a condition that the new chief minister should be chosen from the 102 legislators in the Gehlot camp.
“We said that never in the history of Congress has any resolution been passed with strings attached to it and which is conditional,” Maken added.
The MLAs also insisted that they would come in groups instead of one-on-one meetings. “We said we have a tradition of meeting one on one so that we can talk freely and frankly. But they said no,” said the Congress leader.
Gehlot and Pilot were at loggerheads over the chief minister's post soon after the Congress won the Assembly elections in December 2018. The high command then chose Gehlot as the chief minister for the third time while Pilot was made his deputy.
In July 2020, Pilot along with 18 party MLAs rebelled against Gehlot's leadership.
