Rahul huddles with Sonia, senior party leaders over Raj, MP CMs; Decision on Chhattisgarh on Friday

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday held marathon consultations with senior party leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, to select chief ministers for newly-won Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, apparently stymied by a tussle between the old and the young guard in the party.

Gandhi's official residence in Lutyens Delhi became a revolving door as the four main chief ministerial claimants and AICC observers for the three Hindi heartland states, which includes Chhattisgarh, made repeated visits to hold several rounds of discussions to help the party president untie the gordian knot.

As party members and the media waited for a word to emerge, Gandhi put out a curious tweet: "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time," Gandhi said in the tweet, quoting Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, along with a picture of him flanked by Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath, the two top contenders for Madhya Pradesh.

Decision on Chhattisgarh will be announced on Friday after Gandhi meets T S Singh Deo and Bhupesh Patel, who are among the top contenders for the state, party leaders said.

Rahul's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also visited his house while intense parleys were on, but there was no confirmation whether she was a participant.

As hours went by without an announcement, tension and sloganeering rose among supporters of various contenders, spilling into violence in some areas of Rajasthan.

The 41-year-old Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot, 67, the two hopefuls for Rajasthan, appealed to party workers to maintain peace and discipline, saying they have full faith in the party leadership and would abide by its final decision.

After briefing Gandhi, AICC in-charge of Rajasthan, Avinash Pande, told PTI: "We have given a detailed report on the views of party MLAs to the Congress president, who will take a final call on chief ministers. The decision will be announced at the legislature party meeting in Jaipur."