‘MLAs, public, high command want CM Ashok Gehlot to continue’: Rajasthan Minister

The statement of Dhariwal, who is a known loyalist and close confidante of Gehlot, comes at a time when recent meetings of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot with Congress president Sonia Gandhi triggered speculations of a possible change of guard in the top post before the Assembly elections next year.

“The reality is that the public, high command and all MLAs want Ashok Gehlot to continue as the Chief Minister. It is the duty of the high command to keep meeting people, take everyone together,” Dhariwal, who is the Urban Development and Housing Minister, told reporters Saturday when asked about the high command’s recent meeting with the state leaders.

Without naming Pilot or any other leader, Dhariwal said that people keep publishing reports in the media to “stay alive”. “How can a Punjab-like situation happen here? Who is there to make it happen? Hundred per cent, the next Assembly elections will be contested under his (Gehlot) leadership,” said Dhariwal, when asked by the media if a situation akin to Punjab can arise in Rajasthan before the Assembly elections in 2023.

Last year, the Congress had replaced then Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi. Singh later went on to form his own party. Pilot’s recent meetings with the Congress high command and the Gandhi family have renewed speculations about the party’s plan for the leader, who, despite not being a part of the party’s government in Rajasthan, exercises significant influence in the state.