Congress Crisis in Rajasthan: Why are 90 Congress MPs Threatening to Resign?

A saga of political crisis unfolded in Rajasthan as 90 ministers who were in cordial relations with the Chief Minister, Gehlot, threatened to submit their resignation letters amid the ongoing speculation that Gehlot will likely have to resign in case he wins the presidential poll because the party adheres to a ‘one-man one-post’ policy.

Reacting to the ongoing speculation, 90 MLAs loyal to the Congress Chief Minster boarded a bus and reached the residence of the assembly speaker, CP Joshi, and threatened to submit their resignation letters expressing their disapproval of the decision to make Pilot the new Chief Minister. The group of MLAs including BD Kalla, Mahesh Joshi, Mahendrajit Malviya, and Arjun Bamaniya, earlier gathered at Minister Shanti Dhariwal’s residence.

Minister Pratap Singh Kachariyawas, one of the MLAs who gathered at the speaker’s residence, clearly stated “We are now heading to Mr. Joshi’s residence to submit our resignation letters. We want to convey our true sentiments to the leadership. While we are ready to die for Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against inflation and unemployment, we will not allow those who tried to bring down the Rajasthan government to be given the reins at any cost.”

The huge Rajasthan political fiasco has made it difficult for Pilot to take over Gehlot’s position in the presidential elections. The Congress party has 100 MLAs in the state assembly out of a total of 200 MLAs, six out of which switched sides from Mayawati’s BSP and merged with Congress. Under such challenging circumstances, the MLAs of the assembly clearly hold the key. Out of 13 independent MLAs in the assembly, 12 are already on CM Ashok Gehlot’s side.

Independent MLA, Sanyam Lodha, who is supporting CM Ashok Gehlot made it clear that the only demand of 90 legislators, who are ready to resign from the Congress Party, is that Ashok Gehlot should remain the CM and Pilot should be kept out of the picture.

“Our only demand is that Ashok Gehlot should remain the CM. If CM is made as per the wishes of the MLAs, then the govt will function smoothly, if that doesn’t happen, then there’s definitely a danger of the govt getting collapsed.” Lodha mentioned.

The Assembly elections for Rajasthan will be held next year.