By D N Singh
The open show of political scuffles in Rajasthan may deal a lethal blow to the credibility of the Congress in the state. Now, neither Ashok Gehlot nor Sachin Pilot can blame the BJP or any other opposition for the embarrassing and high octane drama that lasted over a fortnight.
On one side Gehlot had the ambitions to have the cake and eat it too like attitude which played itself out in a naked way. He wanted to contest the party prez election and at the same time wanted his pick to replace him in Rajasthan . Which led him to rise in a kind of revolt against the party high command which has Pilot as its choice for Rajasthan.
Political untouchable
At last, the desert storm which Gehlot built has virtually swept him much away from what he was. From a trusted lieutenant of the party now to a near state of political untouchable.
The problem for the leadership in Delhi is that, Gehlot has the numbers on his side and that is what he played political footsie with the high command, hardly realising that, this would boomerang so early.
There are few obvious questions in the mind of Congress workers which remains highly demotivated. Can it sail through the turmoil and check the opposition to wrest the political benefit? Or a dissolution of the Assembly which lies within the purview of the Governor.
Or it is back to the old trend in the state where power gets shifted every five years.
These are the questions being discussed by the Congress as well as the opposition parties.
The Congress workers are already fed up with discussing rebels, political camps, infighting and finally the party’s future after the last four years since the Congress has been in power in Rajasthan.
They agree that the party has failed to strengthen its presence at the booth level in these four years and the voters’ trust in the Congress remains shaken, said a senior leader.
The ongoing political crisis has hit the workers hard and they have lost trust in their leaders.
Sachin’s cool may pay dividend
However, a ray of hope emerged after former deputy CM Sachin Pilot spoke of returning the party to power in the 2023 polls after meeting Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
“We need to discuss strategies to bring back our government, however no one is interested in thinking about it, but all seem interested in saving their chairs,” said a senior leader seeking anonymity.
It is because of these senior and selfish leaders that chief minister Ashok Gehlot had to say sorry in front of everyone in Delhi, confided another leader from the Congress.
“We are glad that amid the ongoing crisis, someone used the word �together’ in these testing times. This word is sacrosanct today as the party stands divided in three factions: there is one group loyal to the high command, another to CM Ashok Gehlot and the third to Sachin Pilot,” he added.
Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the conduct of Assembly speaker CP Joshi who silently accepted the resignations of 92 Congress MLAs and is staying silent amid all this drama when the MLAs themselves are saying that they were made to resign forcefully.
The WhatsApp calls of all senior leaders are busy�discussing if a new CM will come or if Gehlot will manage to hold on to his chair.
The million dollar question is, “Will the desert storm wipe out the Congress in Rajasthan?”
This is the question being discussed because the Gehlot camp MLAs are now questioning his right hand men, UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal, PHED minister Mahesh Joshi and RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore on why they called an unofficial meeting parallel to the CLP meeting last Sunday. These are the three leaders who were issued show-cause notices on Sunday.
Now all are waiting for the decision of the high command on the CM face. There will be a ray of light, says Vedprakash Solanki from the Pilot camp who termed Dharmendra Rathore a ‘Dalal’ when he called Pilot a traitor.
We are ready to go for mid-term elections but we want CM Gehlot to remain our leader, says minister Parsadilali Lal Meena.
We are with the high command, says Divya Maderna, granddaughter of Parasram Maderna who couldn’t become CM under similar conditions as are existing today.
So with three factions in the party, all eyes are now on the high command.
