Has Cong decided to replace Ashok Gehlot with Sachin Pilot? Rajasthan CM hints

Jaipur, Sep 25: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday hinted at the change in leadership, saying that the new generation should get the opportunity to lead.

He said that he has occupied posts for over four decades and the new generation should get a chance now. Thus admitting an imminent change of guard in the state and an indication that Congress may choose Sachin Pilot as his successor in the state.

"I have said it earlier as well. No post is important to me. I am doing politics for last 50 years. I have remained on some constitutional post or other for 40 years. What more I can get and want. So, it is in my mind that the new generation should get a chance and we all will together give a leadership in the country," PTI quoted Gehlot as stating in Jaisalmer.

He had informed the high command in August that the next assembly election should be fought under a leadership in order to increase the the possibility of winning. "I have said this to (the party) high command in August itself that the next election should be fought under a leadership so that the possibility of winning increases. Whether it is me or someone other than me, select him and form the government," he said.

He said that he had informed the Congress high command that winning the next election is very important as Rajasthan is the only big state ruled by the Congress now. If the Congress wins in Rajasthan then the party will revive and the party will win in other states also, he said.

Sachin Pilot was the frontrunner for the CM post in 2018 after the Congress emerged victorious in the elections. However, the party leadership preferred Ashok Gehlot.

In 2020, he rebelled against Gehlot with 18 MLAs and the one-month political crisis ended after Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi's intervention.