In an indication of an imminent Cabinet reshuffle in Rajasthan, three Ministers holding important portfolios in the Ashok Gehlot government as well as the party posts on Friday offered their resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The ministers’ offer to quit suggested that the much-awaited Cabinet rejig will be based on “one man, one post” formula.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Ajay Maken, who arrived here on Friday evening to take part in a ‘Kisan Vijay Diwas’ rally, told reporters that Ministers Govind Singh Dotasra, Raghu Sharma and Harish Chaudhary had offered to resign in a letter addressed to Ms. Gandhi and expressed their desire to serve in the party organisation.
“I had met the Ministers in Jaipur on July 30, when some of them had expressed their willingness to work for the party. Our three honhaar (promising) Ministers have made the offer of resignation. They obviously want to work in the organisation,” Mr. Maken said at Sanganer airport after his arrival from New Delhi.
Mr. Maken, accompanied by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Mr. Dotasra, later left for the CM’s official residence. Education Minister Mr. Dotasra is at present the Pradesh Congress Committee president, while Health Minister Mr. Sharma was recently appointed AICC in-charge of Gujarat and Revenue Minister Mr. Chaudhary was made in-charge of Punjab.
There are nine vacancies in the Council of Ministers, which will increase to 12 if the resignation of the three Ministers is accepted and they are dropped. The Cabinet reshuffle, possibly accompanied by an expansion, may take place anytime before the Congress government completes three years on December 17.
Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who was sacked as Deputy CM and PCC president after his rebellion in July last year, has been demanding a Cabinet reshuffle and political appointments for a long time. Both Mr. Pilot and Mr. Gehlot had separately met Ms. Gandhi in New Delhi last week to discuss the issue. Mr. Gehlot later indicated that the reshuffle would be carried out soon.
While a few independent MLAs may be accommodated in the Cabinet, the induction of the legislators loyal to Mr. Pilot is going to be a challenging task for the party high command. With a truce likely to be reached between the two camps, the exercise for Cabinet reshuffle will lay emphasis on striking a balance between the supporters of Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Pilot in a bid to end rivalry between them.
Published - November 20, 2021 01:21 am IST
