Assembly Election Results 2018: Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi are holding key meetings todayNew Delhi:Top Congress leaders from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh went into a huddle with Congress president Rahul Gandhi to discuss who will be chief ministers for the two states.
While Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are being considered for the top post in Madhya Pradesh, the contenders for chief minister in Rajasthan are Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.
At the Congress' legislature party meeting yesterday, MLAs from both states passed an order saying the final decision will be that of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot reached Delhi this morning to meet Rahul Gandhi for a breakfast meeting at his residence.
Sources from the Congress say that a likely outcome may be that Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot would be chief ministers, while Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot may be their deputies.
The BJP too has arranged a marathon 7-hour meeting today where the results of the recently held assembly elections would be analysed.
BJP chief Amit Shah has reportedly asked for a detailed report from each district of each states.
The BJP would also discuss in detail the party's future plan of action keeping the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address BJP MPs, which will be followed by a seven-hour meeting of its key organisational leaders.PM Modi addresses the BJP parliamentary party almost every week when Parliament is in session, but his speech today assumes more significance following the party's losses in the assembly elections.
The Assembly election results on Tuesday came as the biggest electoral setback to the BJP since it stormed to power at the Centre in 2014.Who As Chief Minister "Ask Rahul," Sonia Gandhi Said.
His ResponseIn the middle of intense negotiations in the Congress for the top job in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Sonia Gandhi, asked who she thought would be chief minister, said: "Please ask Rahul".Her son and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has the tough task today of deciding chief ministers for the three big states won by the party on Tuesday."We are taking inputs from different people in the party - from MLAs, from workers We are getting a comprehensive answer to what the Congress party and others feel of course you have to see a chief minister soon," he told reporters as he left parliament to return to his party office to meet the two sets of leaders fighting for the chief minister's post in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan - Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi took the unusual step of sending an audio message to over two lakh party workers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and urging them to use an app to reveal their choice of chief minister.Speaking to TheIndianSubcontinent, Rahul Gandhi said it was an attempt to connect with the party workers and get them to communicate, and also an effort to find out who would be suitable for the top post.Sonia Gandhi, who gave the party reins to her son after 19 years last December, agreed that he was attempting something "different and refreshing".
"An experiment, but this is a good experiment," she said.In the audio message, the Congress President asks workers to name their choice and promises complete confidentiality.
"Who should be the chief minister Please mention just one name.
I'm the only person who would know whom you are naming.
No one in the party will know.
Please speak after the beep," he says.
Rahul Gandhi's audio message to 2.4 lakh Congress workers, urging them to reveal to him - "after this beep" - their choice of chief minister in complete confidence, reflects the party's challenging task after scoring poll victories in three big heartland states.On Tuesday, the Congress president had said there would be "no issue" over chief ministership.
"It will be done smoothly," he had said, in contrast to the intense lobbying that had already begun on the night of counting.Watch: Rahul Gandhi's audio message to 2.4 lakh Congress workers Sources say two-thirds of the 99 newly-elected Congress lawmakers in Rajasthan, in a six-hour meeting, conveyed to the central leadership that they want Sachin Pilot, the 41-year-old state Congress head, to be chief minister.Sources say the Congress is weighing a formula that will keep both leaders happy, since it is the combined strength of both that has brought the party this far.
Such a formula may involve positioning one leader in Delhi for a national role, leaving the other to manage Rajasthan.
In Rajasthan the Congress is confronting a tougher choice between state chief Sachin Pilot and two-time chief minister Ashok Gehlot, 67.Sources say Ashok Gehlot, an experienced warhorse, has emerged as the front-runner for party leaders with an eye on the 2019 national election, but Sachin Pilot, credited with recharging the Congress in Rajasthan after its poorest show in state polls in 2013, is putting up a fight.Jyotiraditya Scindia, who reportedly also wants the job, is likely to be offered the post of deputy.
While Kamal Nath, 72, is the state chief, Mr Scindia's argument is that he has popular support.
When TheIndianSubcontinent asked him yesterday whether he would like to be chief minister, the 47-year-old replied: "Absolutely, I would be honoured to serve as chief minister."Watch: Jyotiraditya Scindia's interview to TheIndianSubcontinentRahul Gandhi is expected to take a call on chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan today after a meeting with two pairs of leaders fighting for the top job.
Kamal Nath is likely to be named chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, where the party won a narrow victory in state polls, emerging as the largest party but touching majority only with support from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
PM Modi addresses the BJP parliamentary party almost every week when Parliament is in session, but his speech today assumes more significance following the party's losses in the assembly elections.
The Assembly election results on Tuesday came as the biggest electoral setback to the BJP since it stormed to power at the Centre in 2014.
The BJP would also discuss in detail the party's future plan of action keeping the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address BJP MPs, which will be followed by a seven-hour meeting of its key organisational leaders.
The BJP too has arranged a marathon 7-hour meeting today where the results of the recently held assembly elections would be analysed.
BJP chief Amit Shah has reportedly asked for a detailed report from each district of each states.
Sources from the Congress say that a likely outcome may be that Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot would be chief ministers, while Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot may be their deputies.
Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot reached Delhi this morning to meet Rahul Gandhi for a breakfast meeting at his residence.
At the Congress' legislature party meeting yesterday, MLAs from both states passed an order saying the final decision will be that of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
Top Congress leaders from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh went into a huddle with Congress president Rahul Gandhi to discuss who will be chief ministers for the two states.
While Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are being considered for the top post in Madhya Pradesh, the contenders for chief minister in Rajasthan are Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.