Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath has summoned to Delhi by the party high command amid a deepening political crisis in Rajasthan over the leadership change. Kamal Nath, who is kown to have close ties with Rajatshan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, is likely to meet party interim president Sonia Gandhi at her residence in the evening.
Reports said Nath may be asked by the top leadership to broker a truce.
High drama unfolded in Jaipur on Sunday evening with more than 90 MLAs close to Gehlot threatening to resign over a possible move to appoint Sachin Pilot as his successor. Gehlot, a top contender in the Congress president election scheduled on October 17, will have to abdicate the CM post if he wins.
The Gehlot loyalists, however, refused to accept Pilot as the next CM and maintained that any decision on the chief ministerial face should be taken after the party president election. The legislators, including a few Independents, arrived at Speaker C.P. Joshi's residence and submitted their resignation on Sunday night.
The fresh developments forced Congress to cancel a scheduled Legislature Party meeting which was to be held at Gehlot's residence to elect the new leader.
AICC observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken, who had waited in vain for all legislators to arrive for the CLP meeting on Sunday evening, were trying to persuade the Gehlot loyalists to meet them one by one in an effort to defuse the political crisis, reported PTI.
Both Kharge and Maken have reached Delhi and will submit a report to Sonia Gandhi.
