Jaipur: Rajasthan Congress-in-charge Ajay Maken rubbished claims of the feud within the party over the Cabinet expansion and said the final decision has been left in the hands of party high command. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal and Maken met Ministers and MLAs on Sunday.
Maken reiterated that the power to decide on Cabinet expansion is bestowed upon Sonia Gandhi." I can say that there is no conflict among the party leaders and they all have left the final decision about the cabinet expansion to the party high command," he told media.
There is no particular date fixed for Cabinet expansion, he said. However, he also said, he would visit Jaipur again on July 28 and 29 to hold one-to-one discussions with MLAs. Maken added that he would discuss the expansion of the organization, political appointments and block presidents. He also clarified that the exercise on Cabinet expansion has been completed.
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It has been decided that Congress high command would decide on Cabinet expansion during a meeting held between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Venugopal and Maken on Saturday night. The meeting spanned for about two and a half hours. Pradesh Congress Committee President Govind Dostara also reached CM's residence to welcome both the leaders.
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The Cabinet expansion bid is getting heated up in the state after reports of resentment in the camp led by former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. Pilot had indicated that the party would take necessary action soon to resolve issues raised by him.
MLAs who support Pilot had demanded last month that the party should walk the talk on promises made to Pilot, leading to the furore over Cabinet expansion. After Pilot rebelled against Gehlot, he was sacked as deputy chief minister and PCC chief in July 2020. After a month-long political turmoil, the party central leadership announced to form a three-member committee to resolve issues raised by him. Nine posts are vacant in the council of Ministers which includes 21 members presently. Rajasthan can have a maximum of 30 ministers, as per reports.
