Amid speculations of a Cabinet reshuffle in Rajasthan, All India Congress Committee general secretary Ajay Maken on Friday hinted that some ministers may be dropped to make way for fresh faces. Mr. Maken said some of the Cabinet members had conveyed the desire to work for the party organisation.
Mr. Maken was in Jaipur for the last two days to interact with the Congress MLAs and Independents supporting the Congress to get their feedback on the State government’s performance. Several legislators reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with some ministers and accused them of being inaccessible.
The AICC in-charge of Rajasthan said several ministers were willing to quit the government and work for the party organisation. “With these party members ready to leave everything and work together with the party workers, the Congress is set to form the government once again in 2023,” Mr. Maken told reporters.
The senior Congress leader, who held one-on-one meetings with 115 MLAs on Wednesday and Thursday in the State Assembly building, said everyone had told him that the decision of the party's central leadership on political appointments would be acceptable to them. “We will soon appoint the district and block-level chiefs in Rajasthan,” he said.
Mr. Maken addressed a meeting of Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearers here before leaving for New Delhi. PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra presented a booklet containing the achievements during his year-long tenure at the meeting.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot informally met the Congress MLAs and Mr. Maken over dinner at his official residence here on Thursday night and exuded confidence that the party would come back to power in the next Assembly elections. Mr. Gehlot announced that ₹3 crore each from the MLAs’ local area development fund utilised for COVID-19 vaccination would be returned to them.
