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Successor talks premature: Ashok Gehlot camp over Rahul Gandhi's 'one-man, one-post' message
Ashok Gehlot has arrived in Kerala amid a buzz as to who would be contesting the party's presidential polls scheduled next month. But the sources claimed no talks about Gehlot's successor were discussed with Rahul Gandhi, who is currently leading the Congress's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
With speculation rife that Sachin Pilot may replace Ashok Gehlot as Rajasthan chief minister if the latter is elected as the next Congress president, the Gehlot camp said the talks of his successor are "premature".
Reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement that decisions, including that of "one-man, one-post", taken at the party's Chintan Shivir in Rajasthan's Udaipur this year are expected to be followed, the sources in the Gehlot camp said the question of his resignation will arise after one is declared the next chief minister.
Gehlot has arrived in Kerala amid a buzz as to who would be contesting the party's presidential polls scheduled next month. But the sources claimed no talks about Gehlot's successor were discussed with Gandhi, who is currently leading the Congress's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'. Gehlot will spend the night with Gandhi in Kerala and return to Jaipur on Friday evening, the sources added.
Pilot has been waiting in the wings since 2018 when the Congress won the state election. He was sacked by Gehlot as his deputy after a rebellion nearly brought down his government in 2020.
The person, aware of details, said the process of handover of power will naturally take a couple of months. While it has been speculated that Gehlot will install his own choice as chief minister, it is likely that Gandhi will ask him to agree to Pilot as his successor. These details are likely to be thrashed out in their interactions on Thursday before Gehlot returns to Rajasthan.
Responding to queries during a press conference held between the first and second leg of the day's Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said the Congress president was not just an organisational position, it is an ideological post and a belief system. "What we decided at Udaipur, we expect that commitment to be maintained," Gandhi said on being asked whether he would stand by the Udaipur Chintan Shivir decision on one-man, one-post.
Gandhi, also the MP from Wayanad, said he would advise whosoever becomes the president of the party that they should remember that the post represents a set of ideas, a belief system and a vision of India. Another piece of advice he had for the contestants in the party's presidential polls was that "you are taking a historic position.
The process of filing nominations for the post of party president will begin on September 24 and will continue till September 30. The election is scheduled for October 17 and the counting of votes will take place on October 19.
