Cong prez polls: Gehlot will contest but on one condition!

New Delhi, Sep 21: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, frontrunner for Congress chief's post on Tuesday told Congress MLAs that he will file nomination soon.

The 71-year-old Congress veteran also invited the legislators to come to New Delhi if he decides to file his nomination for the party president election. But he will first visit Kochi to persuade Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra there, to contest for the post.

Gehlot said this at a Congress Legislature Party meeting at his official residence here, according to a state cabinet minister.

"The chief minister will first visit Kochi and urge Rahul Gandhi to contest for the party president post," the cabinet minister said.

The meeting was held after the chief minister hosted a dinner for newly elected Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar at his residence.

This came even as the party leadership indicated that the members of the Gandhi family are unlikely to sign on the nomination papers of any candidate as proposers to show that they would remain 'neutral'.

The process of filing nominations for the organisational elections in the Congress begins on September 24 and will end on September 30, and Gehlot is increasingly being seen as a top contender for the post of the party's national president.

The Rajasthan chief minister, however, has so far denied that he is a candidate and said he will try to convince Rahul Gandhi to contest.

The Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee has taken the lead in passing a resolution backing Gandhi for the post, triggering similar expressions of support from the party units in several other states.

Gehlot is considered a candidate favoured by the party's top leadership, according to some sources. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8 and the election, if required, will be held on October 17. The results will be out on October 19.