Rajasthan cabinet reshuffle: All ministers in Ashok Gehlot govt tender their resignations

Rajasthan Cabinet reshuffle: All ministers in Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's government tendered their resignations today during a meeting at his residence in Jaipur. The mass resignation comes ahead of a cabinet reshuffle in Rajasthan. The meeting started around 7 pm.

"All ministers resigned in the meeting," said Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, who held the charge of the transport minister, as reported by news agency PTI.

"We have been asked to go to the PCC office at 2 pm on Sunday where further instructions will be given by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary Ajay Maken and PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra," Khachariyawas said.

"We will be reaching the PCC office tomorrow at 2 pm. We will be following further instructions given to us there," he said.

The oath ceremony for the new ministers is likely to be held on Sunday at Raj Bhawan, sources said.

Three ministers resigned yesterday

Meanwhile, on Friday, Govind Singh Dotasra, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma had offered resignation in writing to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. AICC general secretary Ajay Maken, who arrived in Jaipur last night, told reporters about the resignations, PTI said. 

Maken said, "I am happy to inform you that three promising ministers of our Rajasthan cabinet have written to Sonia Gandhi today, offering to step down as ministers. They have also expressed desire to work for the party." 

"The Congress party respects them. We are glad that there are such promising people who want to work for the party," he added

While Dotasra is the PCC chief, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma are in-charge of the party's affairs in Punjab and Gujrat respectively. 

Rajasthan can have a maximum of 30 ministers, including the chief minister. The clamour for Cabinet reshuffle had been growing for the last several months with a section of the party demanding to accommodate supporters of the state's former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot's supporters in the government. 

Apart from the Congress MLAs, independents who support the government and MLAs who defected from the BSP to Congress also have expectations from the reshuffle. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had recently hinted that the Cabinet reshuffle will take place soon.

(With inputs from agencies)