The much-delayed Rajasthan cabinet expansion is likely to take place in the coming two days as the Congress high command has finally given its go-ahead, News18 has learnt. This comes two days after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told the media that the expansion would take place soon.
Both Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot had been meeting top Congress brass in New Delhi, with the chief minister meeting party president Sonia Gandhi last week in the national capital.
Gehlot had also met Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at the residence of Rahul Gandhi, where party general secretaries Ajay Maken and KC Venugopal were also present. The meeting discussed various modalities such as adopting the formula of ‘one man, one post’ while also considering appointments in the cabinet, sources had earlier told News18.
Pilot too had recently met Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi to discuss his future as well the accommodation of some of his loyalists in the new cabinet.
The reshuffle holds immense significance as the Pilot faction had been expecting that the former deputy CM is made the CM before the state goes for the 2023 assembly polls. Pilot, had in July last year, mounted an open rebellion against Gehlot, following which he was removed as the deputy CM and as the Panchayati Raj minister. Pilot loyalists Vishvendra Singh, who was the Tourism minister, and Ramesh Meena, the then Food and Civil Supplies Minister, were also shunted out.
Sources in Delhi had earlier told CNN-News18 that at least four MLAs from the Pilot faction are likely to be inducted as cabinet ministers in the Gehlot-led cabinet.
The Congress, in January this year, appointed Pilot’s loyalists to the party state executive in an attempt to show some balance. The reshuffle now will not just show where Pilot stands in the Congress, but will also reflect the high command’s stance on who stands where in the Rajasthan unit of the party.
Including Gehlot, there are 21 members now in the Rajasthan ministry — ten cabinet ministers and ten ministers of state — and up to nine more can be accommodated. Similarly, there are vacancies in party units at the district level.
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