Congress's Ajay Maken resigns from the post of Rajasthan in-charge

Congress leader Ajay Maken has resigned as the party's Rajasthan in-charge. Sources have said he is troubled by the turn of events in late September when Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot refused to step down at the last minute to contest the Congress president's election. According to sources, the MLAs of the Gehlot faction are upset over not attending the party meeting. Maken was hopeful that the party would take action against the MLAs, but nothing happened, due to which he has decided to quit as Rajasthan in-charge of the Congress.

During the September developments, Maken had specifically demanded action against three MLAs - Mahesh Joshi, Dharmendra Rathore and Shanti Dhariwal. Because these MLAs hosted a meeting of MLAs to pass a resolution that they would only accept Gehlot as the Chief Minister.

According to reports, Maken is worried about the ongoing infighting in the Rajasthan party unit. Ajay Maken is miffed over no action against three loyalists of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot after serving show-cause notices to them for holding a parallel meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Jaipur on September 25.

Sources said that this upset Maken as the Show Cause MLA was coordinating the yatra led by Rahul Gandhi. A senior AICC functionary said, “With what moral authority will Ajay Maken go to Rajasthan to organize Rahul Gandhi’s visit, if the same people who made a mockery of the CLP meeting are coordinating it?”