Ashok Gehlot Congress President Election: Ashok Gehlot Not Ruled Out As Congress President Despite Revolt: 10 Facts

1. Ashok Gehlot, 71, is “still in contention for the post of Congress president and not ruled out”, top party sources told NDTV hours after reports said otherwise.

2. Ashok Gehlot will meet with Congress president Sonia Gandhi soon and three or four leaders loyal to him will be “cautioned” for their role in organising the rebellion, said the sources.

3. At the core of the rebellion is Mr Gehlot’s refusal to give up the post of Rajasthan Chief Minister, which has annoyed the leadership. Mr Gehlot had agreed to quit as Chief Minister after Rahul Gandhi made it clear that he would not be allowed a double role, in line with the Congress’s “one person, one post” policy.

4. The transition in Rajasthan was to be formally announced at a meeting of MLAs at Mr Gehlot’s home on Sunday. The time and place was decided by the Chief Minister, according to Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge, who were part of the meeting as central observers.

5. However, only about 25 of 107 Congress MLAs showed up at Mr Gehlot’s home. Most MLAs attended a different meeting called by Shanti Dhariwal, a minister close to Mr Gehlot. They later took a special bus to the Speaker’s house and threatened to resign if Mr Gehlot was replaced as Chief Minister by his rival Sachin Pilot, who rebelled in 2020 against him.

6. The MLAs openly defied the Gandhis and laid out conditions that included choosing a new Chief Minister only after the Congress president election. If Mr Gehlot becomes Congress chief, that will constitute conflict of interest as he will have empowered himself to pick his own successor in Rajasthan.

7. Although three ministers close to him coordinated the rebellion, Mr Gehlot denied any part in it, citing his visit to a shrine near the India-Pakistan border that morning where there was no phone reception. “Nothing is in my hands. The MLAs are angry,” he told the central leadership.

8. No one in Delhi believed that 92 MLAs could threaten mass resignation without Mr Gehlot’s active support and encouragement. Though Mr Gehlot has apologised, the Congress leadership has taken a “serious view” of indiscipline by one of its senior most leaders.

9. Sachin Pilot, whose supporters are outnumbered by Mr Gehlot’s, reached Delhi this evening. It is not known yet whether he will meet with the leadership.

10. The Rajasthan crisis added to the turbulent build-up to the October 17 Congress president polls. For the first time in more than two decades, a Gandhi is not in the contest.

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