After the tremendous victory of the Congress party in Rajasthan, the question which prevails now is, who will be the next Chief Minister of the State? The Congress party met in Jaipur to decide the potential candidate for the Chief Minister post. Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President Sachin Pilot are the top two choices for the position.
In the two session meeting, Congress President Rahul Gandhi will discuss the matter in the presence of the party leaders and members. AICC General Secretary Avinash Pande and party’s observer K.C. Venugopal will also be present at the meeting. According to the statement made by Mr. Pilot earlier, the first session began from 11 A.M., and the second one will be conducted in the evening. The name of the chief minister is likely to be announced after the second session.
The Congress party won 99 seats, 1 seat short of the majority mark of 100, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 73 seats. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD,) an ally of the Congress party, won a seat in the Bharatpur constituency, thereby helping the Congress party touch the majority mark of 100. Political analyst Gopal Goyal said, “Congress may look at an experienced hand who can manage the show with the help of independents and BSP. In 2008, there was a similar situation and Ashok Gehlot ran the government successfully.” Sources in the party predict, Ashok Gehlot might emerge as the front-runner.
Mr. Pilot thanked the people of Rajasthan and said, the high command (Rahul Gandhi) would decide who will become the chief minister. According to the political analyst, Mr. Goyal, the Congress party will require the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and other independent candidates to run the Government.
Mayawati Das, the chief of the BSP, announced the BSP will support the Congress party. In light of this, she said, “We contested the elections to keep the BJP out of power. To keep the BJP out of power, we have agreed to support Congress in Madhya Pradesh and if need be in Rajasthan, even though we don’t agree with many of their policies.”
A Congress delegation is expected to meet Kalyan Singh, the Governor of Rajasthan, at 7 P.M., today, to discuss about the formation of the Government in Rajasthan.
