Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 21: The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh on Wednesday sprang a surprise by indicating that he might join the race for Congress president making it a possible triangular fight.
“Any one from the 9,000 odd Congress delegates can contest and I am not ruling myself out,” Singh said. He said the final picture would emerge only on September 30 when the filling of nomination for the post closed. The names of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, considered to be the party high command’s choice for the post, and the former union minister Shashi Tharoor have already hinted that they would file nomination for contesting the Congress presidential elections.
Even as Singh added a new twist to the situation, Gehlot on Wednesday arrived in Delhi for a meeting with the party interim president Sonia Gandhi and was later due to leave for Kerala to join the on-going “Bharat Jodo Yatra” and hold another round of meeting with Rahul Gandhi.
Gehlot’s convening a surprise meeting of the Rajasthan Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday night in the absence of his principal rival Sachin Pilot, who was away in Kerala participating in the “Bharat Jodo Yatra,” turned out to be a damp squib with the chief minister reportedly simply telling his MLAs that he was “not going anywhere” and even if he was required to contest for the party president’s post, he would not give up the chief ministership.
He repeated the same thing while talking to media persons in Delhi. “It is not necessary that I should resign as Rajasthan chief minister if I am elected the Congress president. One can hold two or three posts at a time if elected. The ‘one man, one post’ rule of the party holds good only for the nominated posts,” Gehlot insisted signalling that he is not ready to give up his Rajasthan role. He also said he would make one last try to convince Rahul Gandhi to take over the mantle of the party which could mean that there would be no contest.
Digvijay Singh, however, was clear that Gehlot would have to quit Rajasthan chief minister’s post if elected the Congress president. The Congress adopted a “one man, one post” resolve at a leadership meet in Rajasthan’s Udaipur earlier this year and it would be applicable to Gehlot as well. “One cannot be Chief Minister and party chief both,” Singh maintained.
Keen on keeping out his bitter rival Sachin Pilot, Gehlot is reluctant to quit the top job in Rajasthan. Amid speculation on whether his move to Delhi may lead to a takeover of the top post by Pilot, he said, “One person can remain a minister and also be elected Congress president”.
Gehlot has told the Congress leadership that he wants to stay on as Rajasthan Chief Minister for some time even if he becomes the party chief, apparently to block Mr Pilot’s attempt to fill up the political vacuum, sources said.
In case he has to move to Delhi, Gehlot would want a loyalist in the power seat back home. If not, then he would want to keep both roles by taking over as working president of the Congress with Sonia Gandhi as full-time chief, it is learnt.
Even when he is reluctant to hand over the Rajasthan baton to his bete noir, Gehlot insisted that he was not hankering for any post. He would do whatever the party leadership want him to do. “I have been given enough by the Congress for the last 40-50 years. I have hold many posts, I am not after any post now. Posts and positions are not important to me. Fulfilling the responsibilities given to me is more important…I will continue to serve the Congress at any capacity I am required to serve,” he said. “l will fulfil any responsibility that is given,” he said. Asked if he will continue as Rajasthan Chief Minister, he said, “time will tell.”
Pilot had joined Rahul Gandhi on the Yatra in Kerala, but he would have left by the time Gehlot reaches. When asked whether he thinks Gehlot would have to step down as Chief Minister if he contests the party president election, Pilot evaded a direct reply.
Tharoor has also got a go-ahead from Sonia Gandhi to run for party chief. While Gehlot is a staunch loyalist of the Gandhi family, Tharoor was part of 23 senior party leaders who demanded sweeping reforms in the party in a letter to Mrs Gandhi in 2020.
Reiterating that he didn’t hanker for posts, Gehlot said: “Left to me, I would not take up any post… I want to participate in Rahul Gandhi’s yatra. The situation the country is facing today, the concerns before the country… the Constitution is being subverted, democracy is in danger, the entire country is being destroyed… At such a time do positions matter? Without posts too, one can do everything.”
Tharoor on Wednesday met Madhusudan Mistry, who is overseeing the process as the party’s central election authority, at the AICC office. Mistry told Tharoor and the other MPs that the list of all 9,000-plus delegates for the election will be available at his office at AICC, Delhi, from September 20 (nominations begin on 24th). The contestants could pick the 10 members whose support they need from the list, across states, and obtain their signature for nomination.
Speaking to the media in Kerala, on the sidelines of Rahul’s yatra, AICC general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said on September 23, kept aside as break day, Rahul might go to Delhi. It will just be to meet Sonia, who is ill and underwent some tests recently, Jairam said.
“Rahul has not met his mother for the last 2-3 weeks. He is also a human being. Will you not go and meet your mother if she is not well? According to the information I have now, if he goes to Delhi, it will be to meet his mother and not to file the nomination,” Jairam said.
