After a series of frantic discussions, Congress finally chooses Ashok Gehlot as Chief Minister of Rajasthan

Jaipur, December 14: After all the frenetic deliberations, the Congress selected Ashok Gehlot to be the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, while Sachin Pilot was named the Deputy Chief Minister. Both the leaders were at the fore front for the position of chief minister after the Congress emerged the single-largest party in Assembly elections held recently.

The development comes after Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot met Rahul Gandhi for another round of talks for the top post on Friday. Before the announcement, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted a photo with both the leaders, hinting that the differences were resolved.

Ashok Gehlot, 67, is a general secretary of the Congress party, and 41-year-old Sachin Pilot has been a former Union minister and is an ex-Lok Sabha MP. K C Venugopal made the announcement at a media briefing stating the party’s decision to choose Ghelot as the Chief Minister. Thanking the party president Rahul Gandhi, Gehlot acknowledged Gandhi for giving him an opportunity to serve for the third time and also promised that he and Sachin Pilot unanimously will work for the people by ensuring ‘good governance’.

Before electing the name of the candidate for Chief Minister, Rahul Gandhi held a series of discussions with the two candidates — Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot before finalizing their name to lead the government.

The Assembly election results declared on Tuesday showed the Congress had won 99 seats in the 200-member House and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party got 73 seats. Ashok Gehlot had retained the Sardarpura seat and Sachin Pilot had won the Tonk constituency in the Assembly elections.

Currently All India Congress Committee general secretary, Ashok Gehlot has been deployed by the party in crucial roles at the national level.