With Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot nominating himself to become the new Congress President, all eyes have now turned on who will be his successor in the state.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently cleared that the party’s ‘one person, one post’ norm would be implemented, which means that Gehlot will have to resign as the CM of Rajasthan if he wins the Congress Presidential polls.
Amidst uncertainty over Gehlot’s successor, a Rajasthan minister who was a supporter of Gehlot, has now tilted his leanings towards Deputy CM Sachin Pilot and said he supports him for the post of CM.
“In my understanding, after Gehlot Sahab, there is no alternative in Rajasthan apart from Sachin Pilot Sahab,” MoS Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Rajendra Singh Gudha was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.
Gudha is one of the six BSP MLAs who had switched to the Congress side to support Gehlot during the political crisis in the state in 2020. The BSP turncoats had supported Gehlot during the political crisis in July 2020 after the then deputy CM Sachin Pilot revolted against the Rajasthan CM.
"We are with the decision of the party leadership. Whatever decision Sonia ji, Rahul ji and Priyanka ji take, we all will welcome that. We are with the party," Gudha said.
"Even if Bharosi Lal ji is made (CM) by Sonia ji, we are with him," he said when asked whether he would oppose if Sachin Pilot is made the CM. Bharosi Lal is a Congress MLA.
Apart from Gudha, other party sources also said that Pilot is the main contender for the chief minister's post, but Assembly Speaker C P Joshi's name is also doing the rounds.
Joshi is a former state Congress president and was a contender for the post in 2008 but lost the Assembly elections by one vote at that time.