Congress President Rahul Gandhi has sent an audio message to party workers in three states where the party won the recently concluded Assembly elections, asking them about who they want to lead their state, reports said on Thursday.
Gandhi is expected to announce the names of chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh later on Thursday. On Wednesday, the newly elected MLAs of all three states decided to let the Congress president pick the chief ministers.
Chhattisgarh Congress General Secretary Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said party workers in the state received a pre-recorded audio message from Gandhi on the internal messaging platform Shakti app on Wednesday, reported The Times of India. More than 3 lakh party workers in the state use the app, he added.
In the audio message, Gandhi congratulated the state unit leaders for the party’s victories, NDTV reported. “Now I want to ask you a vital question: Who should be the chief minister?” Gandhi is heard saying. “Please mention just one name. I’m the only person who would know whom you are naming. No one in the party will know. Please speak after the beep.”
An unidentified party official told NDTV that this was what the party workers were waiting for. “It is the new Congress – listens to workers first.”
Final results of the Assembly elections in the three states were declared on Tuesday and Wednesday. In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress emerged the single-largest party with 114 seats, while the BJP got 109 seats – both parties were short of the majority mark of 116. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party have offered support to the Congress, helping it cross the half-way mark.
The party finished just two short of the majority mark, at 99, in Rajasthan with the BJP winning 73 seats. In Chhattisgarh, the Congress won 68 seats and the saffron party 15.
In Madhya Pradesh, state Congress chief Kamal Nath and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia are the front runners for the post, while in Rajasthan former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and state unit chief Sachin Pilot are the probable candidates.
In Chhattisgarh, Congress Lok Sabha MP Tamradhwaj Sahu, state party chief Bhupesh Baghel and senior party leader TS Singh Deo are being viewed as candidates for the top post.
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