Congress’s Ajay Maken quits as Rajasthan In-charge, displeased over inaction against MLAs

According to sources, Congress leader Ajay Maken resigned from his position as the party's Rajasthan in-charge because he was dissatisfied with the turn of events in late September when Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot abruptly refused to resign so that he could run for Congress president.

In protest against the possibility that Gehlot might be replaced in Rajasthan by his rival Sachin Pilot if he ran for Congress president, over 90 MLAs who supported Gehlot skipped a crucial party meeting in favour of going to the Speaker and resigning there.

Maken expected the party to take action against the MLAs, but no such thing has happened, which contributed to his decision to quit as the Congress's Rajasthan in-charge, sources said.

Maken sought action specifically against three MLAs during the September crisis: Mahesh Joshi, Dharmendra Rathore, and Shanti Dhariwal. These three MLAs had organised a parallel meeting of MLAs to adopt a resolution declaring that they would only accept Gehlot as Chief Minister.

Other issues that displeased Maken included no follow-up on show-cause notices issued to MLAs who supported Gehlot and the absence of a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, according to sources.

According to reports, Maken claimed that Rajasthan needs a new governor after everything that had occurred while he was in charge. Maken was also criticised by the MLAs who supported Gehlot for trying to convince Gehlot to run for Congress president in order to give Pilot the top job.