Completing its 100 days, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra reached Dausa in Rajasthan on Sunday. The infighting of the two factions in Rajasthan Congress, one that of CM Ashok Gehlot supporters and the other of Sachin Pilot supporters have often been in news.
On Sunday, both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot joined Rahul Gandhi as the foot march began, however, suddenly, some people carrying party flags started raising slogans such as “Sachin Pilot Zindabad (Long live Sachin Pilot), Hamara CM kaisa ho Sachin Pilot jaisa ho (How should be our chief minister? Like Sachin Pilot.) The video of the same was tweeted by ANI.
#WATCH | Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Kalakho, Dausa in Rajasthan this morning.
— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2022
Some youths, participating in the yatra, were seen raising slogans of ‘Sachin Pilot zindabad’ and ‘Hamara CM kaisa ho? Sachin Pilot jaisa ho.’ pic.twitter.com/MHeEwE6u1b
Dausa holds special significance as it happens to be the bastion of Sachin Pilot and an erstwhile Parliamentary constituency. Pilot’s father and Congress veteran Rajesh Pilot was elected as MP from Dausa five times.
It is pertinent to mention that the Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has been in controversies since its start in September. Be it Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with Hinduphobic pastor George Ponnaiah who insulted Hindu deities and Bharat Mata, or claims of pro-Pakistan slogans being raised in a Congress rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone.
Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot have time and again targeted each other. Recently, CM Gehlot stirred the hornet’s nest in an interview with NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain calling Pilot “Gaddar” (traitor).
When asked if the Congress High Command desired to make Pilot CM, Gehlot responded, “How are they going to make him? A man with less than ten MLAs. Who revolted, and was labeled a traitor. He betrayed the party and is thus a traitor. How are people supposed to accept him?”. Gehlot had said, “A Gaddar cannot be Chief Minister.”
After the comments of Ashok Gehlot created a storm, Sachin Pilot responded to it by calling the allegations baseless. “Ashok Gehlot called me ‘Nikamma” (incompetent), ‘traitor’ and made lots of allegations. These allegations are completely unnecessary. “
The conflict reemerged during the voting for the Congress party’s president on September 23, when it was revealed that Ashok Gehlot would be running for the position. Even if elected as party president, Gehlot had stated that he would like to remain chief minister of Rajasthan. Rahul Gandhi, however, asserted that a person elected as a party president cannot also serve as CM. Gehlot, a well-known Gandhi family loyalist, had a good possibility of being chosen as the party’s president, which, should that happen, would necessitate his resignation from the position of the chief minister, thus paving the way for Sachin Pilot to take over as Rajasthan CM.
The MLAs who supported Gehlot became irritated as soon as rumours about Sachin’s name surfaced. On September 25, a Congress Legislature Party meeting was scheduled, the second in a week. However, at the last minute, around 90+ MLAs threatened the leadership with resignation if Pilot’s name was confirmed. They wanted Gehlot to remain the state’s chief minister.
After visiting Sonia Gandhi on September 29, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot admitted moral responsibility for the state’s political crisis and withdrew his nomination from the Congress presidential election.
The divide between the Gehlot and Pilot factions stirred a storm first in July 2020 when rebel Congress politician Sachin Pilot was ousted by the Congress party from his position as deputy chief minister and state Congress chief. The Congress party accused Pilot of plotting to topple the government with the BJP.
A month-long gripping drama ensued, during which Ashok Gehlot revealed that the two had not spoken in the previous 1.5 years. The conflict intensified when the chief minister of Rajasthan attacked the rebel leader, referring to him as “Nikamma and Nakaara (useless).” The spectacle finally came to a close with Sachin Pilot returning to his familiar ground and yielding to Ashok Gehlot.
