Gehlot out of Cong's Chief race, Mallikarjun Kharge, Venugopal, Digvijaya to contest for post
New Delhi: Several media reports including India Today on Monday reported Rajasthan Chief Minister and aspirant of Congress’ chief post Ashok Gehlot was out of the race for the party’s presidential polls.
The development comes a day after the Congress MLAs in Rajasthan, supporting Gehlot threatened to resign amidst speculations of another party leader Sachin Pilot replacing Gehlot as the next CM of the state.
With this, media reports claimed senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijaya Singh and KC Venugopal will be contesting the polls that will elect the new party president.
"He (Ashok Gehlot) is out of the Congress presidential race. There will be other leaders who will file the nomination before September 30. Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijaya Singh, KC Venugopal in the race," a Congress leader was quoted as saying by India Today.
"The way Gehlot behaved hasn’t gone down well with the party leadership. They are very upset with him,” said another leader who is a CWC member.
Drama knew no bounds since Sunday evening after 82 Rajasthan MLAs, who are Gehlot's loyalists, tendered their resignation. They stated that the decision to induct the Rajashtan CM, in the case where Gehlot was elected as the party chief, should be carried out with the support of the party legislators. Referring to Sachin Pilot, they said that they did not perceive him as a leader who they could communicate with, the India Today report added.
Meanwhile, the BJP alleged bias in the approach of the Congress and referred to the history of the party. Ami Malviya raised the question of differential treatment for Gehlot. He said, "Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, both held the position of Prime Minister and Congress President at the same time. Ashok Gehlot just wants to be Chief Minister along with being the Congress President, if elected. Why should there be different standards for the Gandhis and the rest?"
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KKR land Green for record-breaking Rs 25.20 crore; Shaw, Sarfaraz go unsold
Abu Dhabi (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders splurged a record-breaking Rs 25.20 to land top Australian all-rounder Cameron Green even as Indian stars Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan went unsold in the Indian Premier League players' auction here on Tuesday.
Green surpassed compatriot Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) to become the most expensive overseas player at an IPL auction. This was after Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings were involved in an intense bidding war for him before the latter emerged winner.
KKR also went after Venkatesh Iyer before pulling out of the race against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who fetched the services of the India all-rounder for Rs 7 crore.
As far as Green is concerned, his salary for the season would still be Rs 18 crore (USD 1.9 million) as the rest of the amount will go towards the BCCI's player development programme as per the rules of the auction for foreign players.
Green, who previously turned up for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has so far played 29 matches in the IPL to aggregate 707 runs and take 16 wickets.
Shaw, however, went unsold despite his fine run of form in the domestic circuit lately, and so was the case with Sarfaraz, who smashed a 22-ball 73 in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match for Mumbai on Tuesday.
Big-hitting South African batter David Miller was bought by Delhi Capitals for his base price of Rs 2 crore, but New Zealand swashbuckler Devon Conway, whose base price was also Rs 2 crore, went unsold in the auction.
Seasoned South African opener Quinton de Kock returned to his old base Mumbai Indians for a base price of Rs 1 crore.
A total of 359 players -- 246 Indians and 113 overseas players -- are part of the mini auction pool with the 10 franchises bidding to fill up a maximum of 77 slots, including 31 reserved for foreign players.
