Rajasthan: Cabinet rejig in limbo as CM Ashok Gehlot advised to avoid meetings

JAIPUR: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has indicated he is in no mood to bow under pressure from his former deputy Sachin Pilot for a cabinet rejig. In a statement issued by the chief minister’s office on Monday, it was informed that doctors have advised Gehlot to avoid one-on-one meetings for at least one to two months considering his post-Covid condition. This puts a question mark on an early cabinet change, which would require the

CM

’s active physical involvement, senior Congress leaders said. Political appointments in municipalities, though, were announced on Monday.


For the past one week, the Pilot faction has been daily issuing statements targeting the AICC committee, constituted 10 months back, to work out power sharing between Gehlot and the disgruntled group of MLAs in the state. Legislators loyal to Pilot have been pressing for cabinet expansion and state-level political appointments at the earliest since the present government has already completed half its term.

In a tactical counter move, lawmakers close to Gehlot have clarified that their contribution in saving the state government during the Pilot’s rebellion last year cannot be ignored. Legislator Rajendra Singh Gudha called the Congress central leadership’s attention to the role played by the six BSP MLAs, who joined Congress on Gehlot’s initiative in 2019, and the 10 independent MLAs in neutralising the Pilot’s revolt last July.

“Eleven months back, 19 MLAs had ‘left’ Congress. If it were not for us (six BSP MLAs) and the 10 independent MLAs, the state’s Congress government would have been preparing to observe its first death anniversary by now,” Gudha said on Monday.

The

Udaipurwati

(

Jhunjhunu

) legislator said that Congress lacked majority on its own after the 2018 assembly election and, later, the revolt by its 19 MLAs almost doomed the party.

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