[LifeStyle] Rajasthan abuzz as Ashok Gehlot calls CLP meeting on Tuesday night

[Andy アンディ]

Amid speculation that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will file his nomination for the post of Congress president, the party has called a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meet in Jaipur at 10 pm Tuesday, a day ahead of Gehlot’s visit to New Delhi Wednesday.

Officially, the MLAs have not been given a reason for the CLP meeting. As per schedule, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar is in Jaipur Tuesday. In the evening, he was present at the Rajasthan Assembly for a ‘Abhinandan Samaroh’ or felicitation ceremony, attended by Gehlot, Speaker CP Joshi, and Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, among others.

This is followed by a dinner for Dhankhar at CM residence, where all the MLAs, of all the parties, have been invited too. This will be followed by the CLP meet.

“The CLP meet is called whenever it is convenient for the leader (chief whip). A CLP meet is usually called when the Assembly session is on. The MLAs are asked to be present for the proceedings since important work is undertaken during the session,” government Deputy Chief Whip Mahendra Chaudhary said.“Since the party MLAs will be present for the dinner, they’ve been asked to stay back for the meet in order to save time, rather than calling the CLP meet on some other day,” he said.

Usually, the CLP meet is held before the start of an Assembly session but in the present case, it hasn’t been held yet. The BJP, for example, held its legislative party meeting Sunday (September 18), a day before the Assembly session resumed from Monday.

For the Congress president election, candidates can file nominations between September 24 and 30 and the last date of withdrawal is October 8. The date of election, if needed, will be October 17, 2022, from 10 am to 4 pm, and the date of counting and declaration of result, if needed, will be October 19, 2022.

SURSA