Rajasthan polls
Protests erupt within Rajasthan Congress as party releases new candidates' lists ahead of polls
Jaipur/IBNS: The Congress is facing a major hurdle in its quest to register a second straight term in the Rajasthan after the fourth and fifth lists for the Assembly elections, which will be held on November 25, were released on Tuesday, leading to infighting in the party.
The Congress workers are unhappy about their chosen leaders being denied tickets.
The protests are emerging as a major headache for the Congress' central leadership and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who has said that it is not possible to keep everyone happy, but added that those who have been denied tickets may be accommodated in various boards.
The Congress has declared names for 156 of the 200 Assembly seats so far and three sticking points that have emerged are ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi and party leader Dharmendra Rathore.
All three had been issued a show-cause notice by the central leadership for their alleged rebellion ahead of the party's presidential elections last year.
When Ashok Gehlot had emerged as one of the main contenders for the party president's post and it was later said that he would have to give up the chief ministership of Rajasthan under the 'one man-one post principle', at least 72 MLAs close to him had submitted their resignations to the Assembly speaker.
The MLAs were opposed to Sachin Pilot being named the next chief minister and had cited his 2020 rebellion against the government.
The protest at the party's headquarters in Jaipur on Wednesday was over the ticket to Mahesh Joshi, who is the sitting MLA for the Hawamahal constituency, the candidate for which has not even been declared yet.
With Joshi getting the high command's notice over the rebellion and his son facing a rape charge, there are strong indications that the ticket may go to the party's Jaipur unit president RR Tiwari.
Dhariwal is seen as a close aide of Gehlot and the rebel MLAs had held a meeting at his residence instead of attending the Congress Legislature Party meet on September 25, 2022.
Dhariwal had also allegedly said that Gehlot was the "real high command". At a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee last month, former party president Sonia Gandhi had allegedly objected to his name being part of the list of probables and had reportedly asked whether those who work against the party could feature in such a list.
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