Ashok Gehlot’s cabinet currently has 20 ministers and room for 10 others.
Jaipur:
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has convened a meeting of his council of ministers this evening where some of them are likely to step down. This could be the last meeting with ministers in the current cabinet as the stage is now being set for the much-awaited cabinet reshuffle in the state. Sources said the swearing-in ceremony could take place at Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
Three ministers, confidants of the CM, shocked the world by offering to resign. They wrote to Sonia Gandhi offering to resign and work for the party. They have been given organizational responsibility. Harish Chaudhary, Minister of Revenue and MLA from Barmer, has been appointed the party in charge of Punjab, he is seen as a key figure in guiding the Parliament in Punjab through the recent political crisis.
Raghu Sharma, MLA from Kekadi in Ajmer, has been named the party in charge of Gujarat – a state that Congress hopes will revive its emerging political chart.
Govind Singh Dotasara, the state’s Education Minister, replaced Sachin Pilot as party chairman last year following Pilot’s uprising against Mr Gehlot.
Mr. Dotasra, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Rajasthan Pradesh (PCC), told ANI news agency today that he had resigned as minister on the grounds of Parliament’s discipline of ‘Ek Pad Ek Vyakti’.
“Keeping the discipline of ‘Ek Pad Ek Vyakti’ of the Congress party, we have resigned as party chairwoman Sonia Gandhi. I will work as a party employee to see that the people of Rajasthan are reaping the benefits. benefit from state government plans,” he said.
The countdown to the cabinet reshuffle has begun with several rounds of meetings between Pilot Sachin and senior leaders in Delhi. Ashok Gehlot also met with party leaders, including Congress chairwoman Sonia Gandhi.
Half a dozen Pilot’s supporters are likely to be brought into the cabinet and he himself could be given a larger role in the party outside Rajasthan.
Mr. Gehlot will also include a number of former BSP MLAs who have merged with Parliament in Rajasthan, creating a comfortable majority in the 200-member house.
The CM’s cabinet currently has 21 ministers and room for nine others.
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