The politics in Rajasthan has heated up since Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot decided to run for the presidential post of the Congress Party. It is noteworthy that on September 23, Rahul Gandhi announced that no one from the Gandhi family would contest for the Presidential post. Apart from Gehlot, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is likely to contest for the Presidential post in the party.
Amidst the announcement of Gehlot’s candidature, the politics in Rajasthan got stirred up as Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s name started making rounds as the successor of Gehlot for the CM post. It is a known fact that there are frictions between Gehlot and Pilot, and as a result, the leaders of the Gehlot group got agitated with Pilot’s name for the post of Chief Minister.
Here is the chronology of the events that transpired since Gehlot’s announcement for the post of Party President
On September 23, it was reported that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot would contest for the post of Congress Party President. However, he also expressed his intentions to continue as the CM of Rajasthan even if he got elected as the Chief of the Congress Party.
Later, on the same day, Rahul Gandhi made it clear that if a person holding any post gets elected as the chief of the Congress Party, that person will leave the post. One person will hold a single post in the party, Gandhi confirmed. The idea of ‘one party, one post’ was apparently decided upon during the ‘Chintan Shivir’ of the Congress Party. Gehlot then dropped the idea of remaining the CM of the state if he were to be elected as Congress President.
In a statement, Gehlot said, “I have requested Rahul Gandhi multiple times to accept everyone’s proposal of becoming the Congress President. He made it clear that no one from the Gandhi family should become the next chief.”
As now there was a chance that Gehlot might have to leave the CM post, the political arena in Rajasthan got stirred up, especially because of the speculations that Pilot would become the next CM. Not to forget, Sachin Pilot had tried to topple the Gehlot government in 2020, but he failed.
The Congress MLAs of Rajasthan were apparently not kept in the loop about the proposed change. The friction between Gehlot camp and Pilot camp are well known, and as soon as speculations over Sachin’s name started making rounds, the MLAs backing Gehlot got agitated.
The Congress leadership in Delhi was keenly watching the situation heating up, and seeing the situation getting out of control, interim president of Congress Party Sonia Gandhi sent Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Rajasthan general secretary-in-charge Ajay Maken to control the situation.
A Congress Legislature Party meeting was supposed to happen on September 25, the second in one week. However, at the last moment, around 90+ MLAs threatened the leadership that they would resign if the Pilot’s name got finalized. They wanted Gehlot to remain CM of the state. The MLAs appear to be adamant over Pilot becoming the CM.
Independent MLA and Gehlot advisor Sanyam Lodha were quoted by Indian Express saying, “If the decision is as per the wishes of the MLAs, then the government will run. But if it is not as per the wishes of the MLAs, then can the government function? Obviously, there will be a threat of the government falling.”
Referring to the 2020 rebellion fiasco, cabinet minister Govind Ram Meghwal said, “This is a sensitive issue. There is resentment among the MLAs. There were independents who helped us during the political crisis. Hence, we will all sit down and discuss.” The MLAs are expected to meet at Congress leader Shanti Kumar Dhariwal’s residence to discuss the matter.
CP Joshi – another candidate for the CM post
It is evident that the MLAs of the Gehlot camp are not in favour of Pilot’s name as CM. Even Gehlot himself will not be pleased if Pilot becomes his successor. Interestingly, there is a possibility that Gehlot will not resign from the post of CM until the results of the party presidentship come in his favour.
Furthermore, because of the frictions of the past, Gehlot might not allow Pilot to become CM in Rajasthan. If the state Congress unit fails to decide on the Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs, Gehlot, as the president, would decide on the nominations. In one way or the other, the Pilot’s desire to become CM seems bleak.
In such a case, another candidate who can become Chief Minister of the state is assembly speaker CP Joshi. Notably, Joshi had attempted to become CM in 2008 but failed by one vote. Gehlot had become the CM despite Joshi’s role in Congress’s victory in state elections. At that time, Gandhis tried to please Joshi by making him Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister in UPA II. However, as per the Indian Express report, the sense of anger for Gehlot remained in Joshi.
Furthermore, Joshi is one of the favourite Rajasthan leaders of the Gandhi family, which might help him in his pursuit of the post of Chief Minister.
The Gehlot-Pilot frictions
In July 2020, Sachin Pilot was Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. He attempted to topple the Gehlot government, stating he had the support of 25+ MLAs in a 200 members Assembly. At that time, Congress had 107 MLAs, including 13 independent MLAs. There were rumours that BJP’s 72 MLAs were backing Pilot through Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Some audio clips of alleged horse-trading being conducted by Shekhawat were also made to social media, following which Pilot’s attempts fell flat. At that time, Rahul Gandhi intervened to control the situation. There have been several instances since then where Gehlot and Pilot indulged in mudslinging.
In August 2022, the situation went worse after reports came out that a Dalit boy died after a school teacher assaulted him for allegedly drinking water from the pot kept for ‘upper-class’ school students. The Pilot camp used the reports against Gehlot, and Pilot-Gehlot indulged in a war of words. The pilot accused Gehlot of delaying Police action. However, later it was revealed there was no separate pot for ‘upper class’ students in the school, and the whole story was cooked to give it a caste angle.
It is unclear what will transpire in Rajasthan politics in the coming days, but in case Gehlot wins the election and becomes Party President, there is a possibility that the state government will fall owing to friction among the party leaders.
