After Rahul Gandhi picks Kamal Nath for Madhya Pradesh, all eyes now on Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh

While the Congress has decided on the name of Kamal Nath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the party is yet to finalise the names of CM candidates for Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where it is slated to return to power. Discussion on the Rajasthan Chief Minister took place in the national capital till late Thursday night, and is likely to continue on Friday.

The two hopefuls for the top post in Rajasthan are state party chief Sachin Pilot and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday held a series of meetings with Gehlot and Pilot, however, the party has failed to reach a consensus on the final name.

According to sources, the Gandhi scion is slated to meet Gehlot and Pilot again at around 10 am on Friday, with some reports suggesting that the Rajasthan Congress chief is not willing to budge from his stand. Pilot’s supporters have been asserting his claim to the position. They reportedly blocked roads and rail routes in some parts of Rajasthan on Thursday.

Pilot took to microblogging site Twitter to appeal to his supporters to maintain calm, saying that any decision taken by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi would be acceptable to him.

Tweeting in Hindi, the 41-year-old Congress leader said, “I appeal to all the party workers to maintain peace and discipline. I have full faith on the party high command, we will welcome any decision taken by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. It is our responsibility to keep the integrity of the party intact.”

“I appeal to friends in media to not publish rumours and only go with confirmed information. Please help us in stopping rumours. We will welcome any decision taken by the party high command,” he further tweeted.

Meanwhile, a decision is also expected on Friday on the name of the new Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, with state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel and TS Singh Deo as the frontrunners.