Final call on Rajasthan CM today

After declaring the chief ministers of two states— Delhi and Mizoram—without any opposition, taking decision on the chief minister of Rajasthan is proving quite taxing for the Congress central leadership.

Confusion is still prevailed on the name of chief minister among a bunch of contenders- former chief minister and looking frontrunner Ashok Gehlot, Jat leaders Sis Ram Ola, Colonel Sona Ram, Pradesh Congress Committee president C P Joshi, National Women’s Commission chief Girija Vyas etc.

Most of all, Congress is in bewilderment to choose whether a Jat or a non-Jat chief minister. While most of the Congress leaders and MLAs are in favour of Ashok Gehlot, Jat lobby has threatened not to support Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections if a Jat is not made the chief minister.

This has made the way difficult for the Congress president Sonia Gandhi who has seen the consequence of alienating Jats, who form about 11% of state electorates, as a primary reason for the worst electoral defeat of the Congress party in the 2003 assembly elections.

However, a signal of lessening pressure from the Jat lobby appeared yesterday after a meeting of the Jat Mahasabha where it was decided that though they support their leader Sis Ram Ola as the new CM, they could support Congress leader Ashok Gehlot if the selection process for the chief minister took a different direction.

Meanwhile, the Congress has called the Legislature Party meeting Thursday afternoon in Jaipur to take the final verdict on the name of chief minister. For this the party has issued a whip to all newly elected MLAs to attend the CLP meet.

Digvijay Singh will participate in the meeting as the Congress’ central observer along with other party leaders.

In the meantime, 11 independent MLAs have submitted a letter of support to the Congress to the Governor. With this the Congress has stepped up six to the magic figure of 101. Congress has won 96 of the 200 state assembly seats.

In the meeting, party could explore the possibility of appointing Gehlot as chief minister and a Jat as the deputy chief minister with a view to placate the numerically strong Jat communities.

Congress high command who has to take the final decision, however, can take a sigh of relief as the differentiation has cropped up among the Jat MLAs itself; 8 among the 18 Congress’ Jat MLAs openly vowed to support Ashok Gehlot as the chief minister.

Mahendra Chowdhary, one of the eight MLAs supporting Gehlot, said that the Congress won the elections from the votes of 36 different communities in the state and it would be unfair for anyone community to demand preference, and added, they will accept the decision whatever the high command takes.