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Ashok Gehlot To Be The Next Chief Minister Of Rajasthan

Sachin Pilot will be the deputy chief minister.
Ashok Gehlot in a file photo.
Getty Editorial
Ashok Gehlot in a file photo.

After days of deliberation, the Congress on Friday announced that party general secretary Ashok Gehlot will be the next chief minister of Rajasthan.

Sachin Pilot will be the deputy chief minister.

This comes after Rahul Gandhi held separate meetings with both Gehlot and Pilot.

Both the leaders had flown down to Delhi to meet Gandhi.

While the two leaders have maintained that they have fought these elections together, and were seen celebrating together in photo, there have been reports there is friction among supporters of each leader.

While Gehlot is the old guard with experience of being a chief minister, Pilot is the young face of the party.

This will be Gehlot’s third stint as chief minister. He was chief minister of the state from 1998 to 2003 and from 2008 to 2013.

Gehlot fought in these elections from Jodhpur’s Sardarpura. He won by a huge margin 45597 votes.

The Congress bagged 99 seats in Rajasthan pushing the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government out of power. The BJP won 73 seats.

Congress president Gandhi is said to have deliberated over his decision after meeting with both the leaders and even taking into account opinions of party workers.

It was report on Thursday that Gandhi had allegedly sent voice messages to all party workers in Rajasthan and other states, asking them for their choice of chief minister.

The Congress party MLAs at least three meetings to decide who they would like to nominate as chief minister.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.