Gehlot-loyalist MLAs threaten to resign ahead of CLP meet to pick his successor
Jaipur, Sep 25: High drama unfolded in Rajasthan Sunday evening as a group of Congress MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot headed to the assembly speaker's residence to submit their resignation ahead of a legislature party meeting which was likely to pick his successor.
The development suggested a worsening power struggle between the chief minister and Sachin Pilot who was tipped to be Gehlot's replacement after he declared his candidature for the Congress president's post.
Congress observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken, along with Gehlot, reached the chief minister's residence where the Congress Legislature Party meeting was to be held. Pilot reached there separately. About 25 legislators were present there, sources said.
However, a large group of MLAs loyal to the chief minister who held a meeting at Minister Shanti Dhariwal's residence decided to go to Speaker C P Joshi's residence to submit their resignation.
"We are going to the speaker's residence in a bus and will submit our resignation," state minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told reporters.
Sources claimed there were around 80 MLAs, including Independents, in the group.
Some of its MLAs said Gehlot's successor should be someone who was instrumental in saving the government during the political crisis in 2020 and not someone who was involved in the bid to topple it, a veiled reference to Pilot.
Another leader, Govind Ram Meghwal, said Gehlot can shoulder both roles, that of the chief minister as well as the party's national president.
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Anna University student suicide case: Five held
Tiruchirappalli (PTI): Five people have been arrested in connection with the death of the Anna University student, who jumped in front of a speeding train in Pudukottai district, police said on Tuesday.
The deceased, a third-year student from Virudhunagar district, was found dead on the railway track near Mandaiyur on the night of September 20 by the railway police, who later recovered a suicide note from his hostel room.
The student had, in the letter, alleged sexual assault, blackmail, and extortion by five men.
Following this, the police arrested the five suspects. A case has been registered, and further investigation is on.
