My resignation letter is with Congress high command permanently: Ashok Gehlot

Speculations around changes in the state government have been doing the rounds following a recent meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Sachin Pilot.

New Delhi: Amid speculations around changes in the Rajasthan government, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday (April 23, 2022) said that his resignation letter was with the Congress high command permanently. 

Speculations around changes in the state government have been doing the rounds following a recent meeting between Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and senior party leader Sachin Pilot in New Delhi, a day after Gandhi held talks with Gehlot.

Gehlot, however, allayed speculation around a possible change of guard in the state and said that people should not pay attention to rumours.

He added that if the party had to change the chief minister in the state, it would be done without any hint to anyone.

"Rumours keep running in the media and in newspapers. You don't have to pay attention to them," Gehlot said during a state-level event of the Rajasthan Revenue Service Council here.

Such rumours mislead people and governance is also affected, he said.

"The condition of the Congress should be a matter of concern for the whole country. Common citizens who never vote for the Congress also want the party to be a strong opposition in the country," the chief minister said. 

Meanwhile, in the continued slugfest between the BJP and Congress over the demolition of two temples in the Alwar district, BJP MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has asserted that the Rajgarh municipality headed by his party had not cleared any proposal to demolish the shrines.

Rathore alleged that the temples were demolished in haste without any clearance by any senior government official in the district.

The temples were demolished when Alwar's district collector had been transferred and his successor was yet to assume charge, alleged Rathore.

Two temples were demolished during an anti-encroachment drive in Alwar district's Rajgarh early this week, triggering an exchange of barbs on Friday between the Congress and BJP in Rajasthan.

Rajgarh, notably is a BJP-run municipality in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

(With agency inputs)