There will be a complete rehaul of the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress Government in Rajasthan.
All the Ministers in the Government on Saturday tendered their resignations from the Cabinet and Council during a meeting at the CM’s residence in Jaipur. The move was a change from the earlier stance during the day with the probability of a limited reshuffle being effected as only three Ministers had put in their papers to accommodate Sachin Pilot loyalists.
The new Ministers are likely to be sworn in at 4 pm on Sunday. There is no confirmation yet though.
"All Ministers resigned in the meeting," Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, who held the charge of the transport minister, told the media.
"We have been asked to go to the PCC office at 2 pm on Sunday where further instructions will be given by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary Ajay Maken and PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra," Khachariyawas said. AICC general secretary Ajay Maken is already in Jaipur and has been coordinating between the various factions in the party as well the high command.
Earlier, Gehlot and Maken as well as PCC chief Dotasra addressed a Kisan Vijay Diwas gathering. After that, Maken and Gehlot held a meeting at a hotel.
Rajasthan Government can have a maximum of 30 ministers, including the chief minister. The clamour for Cabinet reshuffle had been growing for the last several months with the Pilot camp demanding to accommodate supporters of the state's former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot's supporters in the government.
ICC sources said that a maximum number of Pilot camp is likely to be accommodated as per the "agreement" reached between warring factions Gehlot and Pilot in several rounds of meetings by then with party chief Sonia Gandhi, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
State PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma had already offered resignation in writing to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
While Dotasra is the PCC chief, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma are in-charge of the party's affairs in Punjab and Guajrat respectively. Maken expressed that the leaders desired to work for the party.
Apart from the Congress MLAs, independents who support the government and MLAs who defected from the BSP to Congress also have expectations from the reshuffle.
The clamour for a reshuffle had been growing for several months with former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot’s camp demanding that his supporters be accommodated in the government.
Apart from Congress MLAs, independents supporting the government and MLAs who defected from the BSP to Congress also have expectations from the reshuffle.
Last year, Pilot had led a rebellion of 19 Congress MLAs, including himself. While the party removed Pilot as deputy CM and as the Panchayati Raj minister, his loyalist Vishvendra Singh was removed as the Tourism minister and Ramesh Meena was removed as Food and Civil Supplies Minister.
The crisis lasted beyond a month and the party high command had to step in to broker peace between the two factions. After the two shook hands in August 2020 following truce, it was expected that Pilot’s loyalists would be adjusted in Gehlot’s cabinet. However, Gehlot has been resisting expanding his cabinet till now.