Rajasthan Minister Praises Ashok Gehlot For Not Disputing Congress Head Polls

Mahesh Joshi praised CM Ashok Gehlot’s decision not to contest the Congress President’s poll.

Jaipur:

Rajasthan Minister Mahesh Joshi praised Prime Minister Ashok Gehlot’s decision not to contest the election of the Congress chairman, saying the latter has never disobeyed orders from the party’s high command.

“The example (of not contesting the congressional president’s poll) set today by CM Gehlot cannot be overstated. He has never disobeyed the orders of the party high command… If the party sends us an official notice, we will present our side.” said Mr Joshi.

His comments came after Rajasthan Prime Minister Ashok Gehlot said Thursday that he will not fight for the job of head of Congress.

Highlighting the incident on September 25, Mr. Joshi said: “Also on September 25, there was talk of approving the proposal.

Mr. Gehlot was so saddened by this incident that he could not even sleep well at night. He was worried that this had hurt Sonia Gandhi. We never said we would decide the CM.”

Gehlot’s comments came after the veteran leader met interim party chief Sonia Gandhi today at her residence at 10 Janpath in the national capital.

“I met Rahul Gandhi in Kochi and asked him to fight at the polls (for president of Congress). When he did not accept, I said I would run, but now with that incident (political crisis in Rajasthan), I have decided not to.” contest the elections,” said CM Gehlot.

He also apologized for the uproar in Rajasthan caused by his loyalists over a possible leadership change in the state after Gehlot submitted his nomination papers for the main congressional polls.

CM Gehlot said that everything that happened in the state in the last two days had shocked everyone.

“I had a conversation with the interim president of Congress, Sonia Gandhi. What happened two days ago shocked us. He gave a message that everything happened because I wanted to be CM. I apologized,” CM Gehlot said, addressing the media after Knowing to Sonya Gandhi.

Later in his speech to the media, CM Gehlot said that he will not participate in the elections in this atmosphere. “I will not contest these elections in this atmosphere, with moral responsibility,” said CM Gehlot.

Asked if he will remain CM of Rajasthan, Gehlot said: “I will not decide that, the head of Congress, Sonia Gandhi, will decide.”

“The one-line resolution is our tradition. Unfortunately, a situation arose where the resolution was not passed. It was my moral responsibility (to pass the resolution), but despite being a CM I could not pass it,” he added.

Speaking to reporters, Gehlot said that the party works with the president of Congress and decisions will be made in the future.

He said congressional workers are concerned about the direction the country is headed and that addressing the issue was more important.

Also, today Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh collected his nomination papers and announced that he is likely to submit his nominations tomorrow between 11am and 3pm.

Congressman Shashi Tharoor has announced that he will present his candidacy for the post at 12:15 pm tomorrow.

The presentation of candidacies for the maximum position of the Congress will take place until September 30 and the election will take place on October 17.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)