rajasthan-elections

Updated: Dec 11, 2018 19:34 IST

The Rajasthan Congress has called a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Wednesday in which a one-line resolution is expected to be passed. The resolution will authorise the party president Rahul Gandhi to take a call on who the next chief minister of the state will be from the party.

As per trends and results, the Congress has crossed the majority mark of 100 seats in the 200-member state assembly with the BJP trailing at about 70 seats. The Congress, though much ahead of its rivals, is confident of its victory and is looking at the support of the rebel candidates. The BJP has accepted its loss but has maintained that it was a good performance considering that the people of Rajasthan have changed the party in power in every election in the last 25 years.

The Congress has deputed its general secretary KC Venugopal as observer for the legislator party meeting and also to speak to senior party leaders and gauge their mood on who to name as the future chief minister. He is expected to brief Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the Rajasthan election results as well.

Read: Rajasthan election results highlights : Sachin Pilot wins Tonk, Gehlot wins Sardarpura

“The Congress leadership has called all the party MLAs to Jaipur at 11 am on Wednesday to seek their opinion over their leader. It is likely that the MLAs will pass a one-line resolution authorizing the Congress president to decide who will be the chief minister in Rajasthan,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.

Earlier too, the Congress legislators have passed similar resolutions authorizing the party chief to decide on the chief minister to prevent any infighting within the party. The party has not declared a chief ministerial candidate for the Rajasthan elections saying that the party has never declared a CM candidate in the state.

In Rajasthan, the front runners for the post are state Congress president Sachin Pilot and two-time chief minister Ashok Gehlot. The third probable candidate and leader of opposition in the outgoing assembly - Rameshwar Dudi - was defeated by BJP’s Bihari Lal Bishnoi from Bikaner. Apart from these, senior party leaders such as CP Joshi, Girija Vyas and Harish Chaudhary have also won from their seats.

Also read: How the Congress’ performance in this election alters calculus for 2019

According to Congress party leaders, both Pilot and Gehlot had been the two prominent faces of the Congress’ campaign in the state and had played an important role in the distribution of tickets among the 195 candidates. The Congress had left five seats for its allies - Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal, Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Congress leader said the selection of the chief minister will be based on its implications for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won all 25 Lok Sabha seats. “We need an experienced person to win back large number of seats,” the leader said, adding that both Pilot and Gehlot could do the job.

Pilot has made his debut in the assembly elections by defeating BJP’s lone Muslim candidate Yoonus Khan from Tonk. Khan is also a minister in Vasundhara Raje’s cabinet. Pilot had been an MP from Dausa and Ajmer. Gehlot, member of the assembly from Sardarpura (Jodhpur) constituency, has been chief minister twice and is a five-time MP and has vast experience of state and centre level.

Click here for live updates of Rajasthan assembly election result 2018

The last year or so, Gehlot had been given several organizational and national responsibilities. He is general secretary in-charge of the organization, had been the election in-charge for Gujarat, where the Congress performed well despite losing the polls to ruling BJP. According to Congress leaders, Gehlot had played a key role in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh elections as well.

Pilot, on the other hand, is young and popular among the youth, has played a pivotal role in reviving the party in Rajasthan after it was reduced to 21 seats in the 2013 assembly elections. Under his leadership, the party has won four of the five assembly by-polls and two Lok Sabha by-polls.

The new Congress chief minister will have his task cut out as the BJP has been able to retain its vote share of about 38% in the state, while the Congress has witnessed a marginal increase in its vote share despite an undercurrent against the incumbent Vasundhara Raje government. Also, it will have to take on a resurgent BJP which aims to retain its hold in the state for the Lok Sabha elections, said political expert Rajiv Gupta.