Ashok Gehlot wins race for CM

JAIPUR: Fifty-eight-year-old Ashok Gehlot will be the new chief minister of Rajasthan. He will be sworn in as the 23rd chief minister of the
state on Saturday. The selection triggered a series of celebrations across the state as supporters of Gehlot took to streets from Jaipur to Jodhpur, dancing and distributing sweets. The new chief minister has been elected to assembly from Sardarpura constituency in Jodhpur district.

The Congress Legislature Party on Thursday unanimously elected Gehlot as their leader in the presence of central observers. The decision was immediately endorsed by party chief Sonia Gandhi, who had advised the observers to go with the popular mood of the legislators. Despite a stubborn stand by Jat leaders against Gehlot, his election was smooth as majority of the members were in his favour. The Jat leaders, however, remained unmoved till the end as they too had long discussions with the observers.

Later, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, along with other leaders, met governor S K Singh, informing him of the unanimous choice of Gehlot.

This will be Gehlot's second stint as CM. Earlier, he occupied the chair from 1998 to 2003. AICC leaders Digvijay Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Madhusudhan Mistri, Choudhry Virendra Singh and PCC president CP Joshi were part of the entire exercise. The central observers met the legislators after day-long parleys with Jat leaders including Sis Ram Ola, Parasram Maderna, Col Sonaram and a few others, besides Girija Vyas.

"Congress did not get a clear majority and with a strength of 96 and the support of Independents, the next five years would be full of challenges. But I promise to fulfil the aspirations of the people," said Gehlot, after his election was made public. In fact, he was immediately on the job; he went to SMS Hospital to visit a few hooch victims from Shahpura, battling for life.

Earlier, the CLP passed a resolution entrusting the job of choosing the leader to party president Sonia Gandhi and the resolution said the members of the CLP would fully honour her decision.

Digvijay Singh later said the election of Gehlot was through democratic process as the opinion of each and every MLA was taken. "Once MLAs expressed faith in Gehlot, their views were conveyed to Sonia Gandhi as per Congress tradition and she also immediately gave her nod," said Singh, during a media interaction. "It was smooth as there have been instances where the leader was elected after longer hours of deliberation in the CLP," he said. It was learnt that members were asked to write their choice on a slip and barring 16, all expressed confidence in Gehlot.

Interestingly, Congress leaders shunned queries regarding formation of ministry, including the issue of inducting a Jat leader as deputy chief minister. Senior Jat leaders were insiting on nomination of chief minister from their community. "CLP takes a decision about its own leader and formation of the government including the selection of ministers is the discretion of the chief minister," Singh added.