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Rajasthan had gone for polling in a single phase election on December 7. A political party needs to win at least 100 seats to secure a simple majority in the Legislative Assembly. Term of the current Assembly ends on January 20, 2019.
For more than 20 years, chief ministers of Rajasthan have been seeing the revolving door. None of the chief ministers in this period of time has managed to retain power. Will Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje be able to end this?
The single-phase voting happened after weeks of intense campaigning by state-level leaders including Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Congress’ Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot, and national level leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP National President Amit Shah and Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Leaders such as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also participated in the campaign.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been in power in the state since 2013. Now, the saffron party and the incumbent chief minister is reportedly facing massive anti-incumbency. A resurgent Congress, led by former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and former union minister Sachin Pilot is hoping to out the BJP. BJP has however claimed that it is confident of winning the election.
In 2013, Vasundhara Raje won a stunning mandate, winning 163 out of the 200 seats. Congress had finished a distant second with just 21 seats. National People's Party (NPP) had won four seats and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had won three.
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Congress MLAsto go to the Governor's house in the evening to formally stake claim to form government.
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Rajasthan Congress MLAs to meet at 6.30 pm.
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Rajasthan CM swearing-in to be held at 1.30 pm on December 17.
Omar Abdullah:
Congratulations to Ashok Gehlot ji & Sachin Pilot for taking up the responsibilities of CM and Deputy CM of Rajasthan respectively. Together, may they succeed in giving the people of Rajasthan the government they deserve.
Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister designate Sachin Pilot:
Mera aur Ashok ji ka jadoo puri tarah chal gaya hai. Hum ab sarkar bana rahe hain.
Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister designate Sachin Pilot:
I would like to thank Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other legislators for taking this decision to make Ashok Gehlot ji the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Sources:
Sachin Pilot to be the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. He will also continue to be the Rajasthan Congress Chief.
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State observer Avinash Pande confirms that final announcement at 4.30 pm today.
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Ashok Gehlot andSachin Pilot are expected to reach Jaipur airport around 3.30 pm.
Rahul Gandhi to hold fresh round of discussions with Rajasthan CM hopefuls Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to hold a fresh round of discussions on Friday with Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, the two chief ministerial aspirants in Rajasthan, before taking a final call for the top post.
The decision of Rajasthan's next chief minister is likely to be taken before noon and will be made public at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in state capital Jaipur, sources said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi may take a final decision on the CM post of Rajasthan at around 11 am today. The decision is likely to come after a meeting with Sachin Pilot who has left his residence to meet Gandhi. The decision could come anytime after 11 AM, according to television reports.
Vasundhara Raje's 'second home' to be her residence as outgoing CM
Rajasthan's general administration department (GAD) on December 13 allotted outgoing chief minister Vasundhara Raje a bungalow where she had controversially stayed during her term. She had mostly stayed at 13, Civil Lines instead of the official chief minister's residence at 8, Civil Lines, which was not allotted to anyone else.
Raje submitted her resignation after the BJP was voted out in the December 7 assembly elections. A new Congress government is yet to be sworn in with the party yet to pick a chief minister.
"Rahul Gandhi needs some more time for deliberations and a final decision. No meeting (has been scheduled) for tomorrow. In the morning there will be a decision," Venugopal told reporters in New Delhi after meeting the Congress chief last evening.
Senior Congress leader and Rajasthan observer KC Venugopal said that there would be a final decision on who would assume the office of chief minister in Rajasthan today morning, reports ANI.
While Ashok Gehlot is learnt to be leading the race for chief minister's post, Sachin Pilot is also putting up stiff resistance and is staking his claim.
Pilot visited Rahul Gandhi's residence again late in night yesterday amid speculation on whether the race was still open and could go down to the wire. The party president also met the central observer for the state K C Venugopal and the AICC state in-charge Avinash Pande for the second time.
Rahul Gandhi defers decision on chief minister of Rajasthan for today
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has deferred the decisions on chief ministers of Rajasthan for today as he wants to hold further discussions with party leaders, Congress sources said, even as one of the top contenders for the desert state, Sachin Pilot, met the party chief for a second time late yesterday night.
According to an India Todayreport earlier in the day, Sachin Pilot was offered two options — holding the chief minister’s post on rotational basis or becoming the deputy chief minister. Both were reportedly rejected by Pilot. They were proposed by observer KC Venugopal. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
Preparations on at Raj Bhawan for oath taking
With the announcement over the next Rajasthan chief minister is expected soon, preparations have already started at the Raj Bhawan in Jaipur for the oath-taking ceremony. Workers were seen cleaning and colouring the walls of Raj Bhawan located in the city's Civil Lines area. Though it's not clear when the ceremony will be held, officials don't want to leave anything for the last minute and started working on preparations from Wednesday itself.
The contest in Rajasthan is down to the wire, with both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot holding meetings with party chief Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Meanwhile, Election Commission officials met Governor Kalyan Singh on Thursday to apprise him of the election results, a spokesperson at the Raj Bhawan said.
Rahul held individual meetings with Gehlot, Pilot
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi held deliberations with the party's central observer K C Venugopal and party in-charge of Rajasthan Avinash Pande and took inputs from them to ascertain the views of the Congress' newly elected legislators on the matter, sources said.
The Congress chief gave separate hearings to both Pilot and Gehlot, one representing the young face of the party and the other, the old guard. The individual meetings lasted around 10-15 minutes each and neither Gehlot nor Pilot talked to the media after the meeting.
Security tightened ahead of announcement of next Rajasthan CM's name
Security has been tightened in Rajasthan ahead of the announcement as supporters of both Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot began gathering near their residences since morning. A large number of supporters are present at the civil lines residence of Gehlot, while Pilot's supporters are also present near his house in Jalupura. "Security arrangements have been tightened looking at the large number of supports at both the places. Additional policemen have been deployed to keep things under control," Additional Commission of Jaipur Police Nitindeep Bluggan told PTI.
Sachin Pilot:
I request the media to not run news based on rumours and only rely on confirmed news. We will welcome whatever the party leadership decides.
Sachin Pilot:
I request the media to not run news based on rumours and only rely on confirmed news. We will welcome whatever the party leadership decides.
Ashok Gehlot:
Decision of CM names takes time, this is not new. All this confusion is being manufactured by the BJP.
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CM probable AshokGehlotreaches Delhi, tells mediapersons, "It takes time to decide on who will be chief minister."
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KC Venugopalalso reaches RahulGandhi's residence.
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Priyanka Gandhi also at brother Rahul'sresidence. Senior party leaders in a huddle over CM decision.
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Hectic parleys on at Congress president's house in New Delhi. SachinPilot en route Rahul'shouse.
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Sonia Gandhi reaches Rahul's home, CM announcement soon.
Sachin Pilot likely to be made the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, reports suggest.
Hanuman Beniwal has warned Rahul Gandhi that he will protest against Congress in Rajasthan and other states ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, if Sachin Pilot is not made the chief minister, News18 has reported. Beniwal’s Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) won three.
AshokGehlotis likely to be named the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, NDTV has reported. Official announcement will be made soon.
Follow the LIVE updates here
Meanwhile,TelanganaRashtraSamithi(TRS) chief KChandrashekarRaohas been sworn in as the Chief Minister for the second consecutive time.
AshokGehlothas arrived at RahulGandhi's residence. Gehlotand Sachin Pilot will be meeting Gandhi one-on-one.
SachinPilot has arrived at RahulGandhi's residence for the crucial meeting.
According to a report by India Today, Sachin Pilot was offered two formulas — holding the chief minister’s post on rotational basis or becoming the deputy chief minister. Both formulas were reportedly rejected by Pilot. The formulas were proposed by observer KC Venugopal. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
RahulGandhi’s meeting with observers is underway.
“We are taking inputs from MLAs and party workers. You will see a chief minister soon,” Rahul Gandhi has told the media while on his way to the crucial meeting called to pick CMs for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
SachinPilot and AshokGehlothave reportedly left for New Delhi to meet party president RahulGandhi.
Congress is likely to announce Rajasthan's new ChiefMinister today. State unit chief SachinPilot and AICCGeneral Secretary AshokGehlotare in fray.
“The process of electing the Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan is presently ongoing. Congress party believes in the democratic process of knowing the view point of each elected legislator,” Randeep Surjewala, the Congress spokesperson told news agency ANI.
He added that the CM candidate will be chosen “after consulting everybody” and that the process of loan waiver and “creating new employment opportunities” will start “in accordance with people’s will.”
KC Venugopal, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and state in-charge AvinashPandewill meet RahulGandhi tomorrow at 10 am, News18has reported quoting sources.
Congress state in-charge AvinashPandehas said that the party delegation met with the Governor and sought time from the Congress president RahulGandhi. Pande said that the delegation discussed "everything" with the Governor.
"We will inform the Governor about the swearing-in and the name of Chief Minister tomorrow," Pande said, adding that a report will also be submitted to Gandhi tomorrow.
Sachin Pilot to fly to Delhi at 8:30 pm.
SachinPilot will fly to Delhi at 8:30 pm, News18has reported quoting sources. Ashok Gehlot will remain back in Jaipur, according to sources.
Rajasthan Advocate General resigns
Rajasthan Advocate General Narpat Mal Lodha resigned from the post today after the BJP lost the assembly elections in the state, officials said. Lodha handed over his resignation to Governor Kalyan Singh, a Raj Bhawan spokesperson said. (PTI)
