Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken, the general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, have both been named as observers by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. According to K C Venugopal, general secretary of the AICC organisation, they will attend the meeting of the CLP of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly on September 24.
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Maken met Sonia Gandhi earlier in the day and thoroughly addressed matters pertaining to Rajasthan. Within the past week, there have been two CLP meetings. The most recent meeting took place on September 20. PTI sources said the leadership of the government going forward, if Gehlot is elected as party chief, is likely to be on the meeting agenda.
On September 23, Gehlot became the first candidate to officially declare his candidacy for the AICC presidential election. He claimed that previous president Rahul Gandhi had advised him that no member of the Gandhi family should succeed him as party leader. The Rajasthan CM added that Sonia Gandhi and Maken would decide who would succeed him. Gehlot made his comments the day after Rahul Gandhi argued in favour of the "one man, one post" idea within the party, in line with the "Chintan Shivir" reforms.
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Gehlot earlier told reporters in Shirdi that the "one man, one post" debate was pointless and that he wanted to devote his entire life to serving the people of his state. He added that various interpretations have been made of his words about wanting to serve the Rajasthani people.
Amidst rumours of a change of guard in the state, Congress leader Sachin Pilot met with Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi on September 23. Joshi and Pilot first spoke in the state Assembly's chamber where several other party legislators were also present. Pilot is the front-runner for the position of chief minister, but Joshi's name is also being thrown around, according to party sources.
Ashok Gehlot and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor are anticipated to run against each other for the office of Congress president. The new Congress leader will be announced on October 19 after the nomination deadline of September 30.
(With PTI inputs)
