After a long wait in Rajasthan, the date has finally been fixed for the cabinet expansion. The date between November 15 and 20 has been fixed for the expansion of the cabinet, in which leaders of Sachin Pilot’s faction can also be included. Priyanka Gandhi, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, KC Venugopal and state in-charge Ajay Maken have taken a joint decision for cabinet expansion. At the same time, discussions have already been held with Sonia Gandhi in this regard. As of now, its official announcement is yet to be made. With this, it is believed that the Congress high command will try to strike a balance between Gehlot and Pilot through this expansion.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said after meeting Sonia Gandhi that “The decision on the much-awaited cabinet reshuffle in the state has been left to the Congress high command, which will decide when it will happen. Ajay Maken has complete information about this. We want good governance to be maintained in the state.”
How many vacancies are there?
Actually, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra is currently in Delhi and he is likely to return to Jaipur by November 13. The Governor will put the final seal on the date of cabinet expansion. To strike a balance between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, 5-6 leaders of the Pilot faction can again be included in the state cabinet. These will be the same ministers of the Pilot faction who were earlier ousted from the cabinet. This time a total of 30 ministers can be made in which there are already 21 ministers including Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, that means 9 ministerial posts are still vacant.
It is worth mentioning that Govind Singh Dotasara, Raghu Sharma and Harish Chaudhary have already been given different responsibilities. Raghu Sharma is currently in charge of Gujarat, and Harish Choudhary is in charge of Punjab while Govind Singh Dotasra is currently the state president and education minister. The one person one post principle may be adopted in the cabinet expansion of Rajasthan, so there are chances that Dotasara, Raghu Sharma and Harish Chaudhary may be out of the cabinet. With this, a total of 12 posts will become vacant, even if no one is removed from the post of minister, many new faces from the pilot camp can be given a place in the cabinet.
attempts to strike a political balance
Sachin Pilot’s loyalty to the party could be the reason behind the sudden shift in political balance in Rajasthan. The way Rajasthan has witnessed political turmoil in the last one year, everyone expected that Pilot might leave the party. However, Sachin Pilot expressed confidence in the party high command and waited for the right decision, due to which he has been successful somewhere in winning the trust of the party high command.
Explain that due to the ongoing dispute between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, the expansion of the cabinet was not happening. Pilot wanted his supporters to get the same post back again, but regarding the cabinet expansion in the government, Ashok Gehlot said that he would do the cabinet expansion only on the basis of the work of the ministers and the report card. The meaning of this was clear that he only wanted to give place to his supporters in the cabinet. The party high command also kept silence on this.
Sachin Pilot wins trust
Sachin Pilot’s loyalty had already won the confidence of the party high command, then victory in the by-elections has made the task easier. Let us inform that after the victory in the Vallabhnagar-Dhariawad by-election of Rajasthan, the Congress does not want to leave any stone unturned for the assembly elections to be held in Rajasthan in 2023. In such a situation, it became necessary for the Congress high command to bridge the gap between Gehlot and Pilot. It is also a fact that it is not so easy to bridge the political gap, so now the Congress party is trying to strike a balance between the two. Now after the expansion of the cabinet, it will be interesting to see how much the distance between Gehlot-pilot is reduced.
,