Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 12: Taking a leaf out of the party’s debacle in Punjab last year, the Congress high command is believed to have decided to take cautious approach to solve the imbroglio in Rajasthan where the virtual revolt by the former state president Sachin Pilot has put the party in a difficult situation in the election year.
The party is learnt to be gearing up for a major overhaul in Rajasthan, where the rift between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot has widened to calamitous levels when the elections to the state Assembly is due in November.
Pilot who sat on a day’s fast on Tuesday in Jaipur demanding his party government take action against the alleged corrupt practices by the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje, reached Delhi on Wednesday to meet the top party leaders. Pilot was warned of his move the previous day which the High Command observer said would be construed as “anti-party activity” but the former state president went ahead with his decision to sit on a fast for a day.
Pilot, who led a failed rebellion against Gehlot three years ago, this time held a day-long fast against his own party’s government on Tuesday, accusing it of overlooking corruption charges against their opponent, BJP’s Vasundhara Raje.
Sources in the party said the Congress leadership has taken note of the situation and has decided to intervene soon. The party’s general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Sukhjinder Randhawa, has met the party national president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday and briefed him about the situation in the state.
According to sources, the party’s top leadership has indicated a “major surgery” will take place in Rajasthan to resolve the crisis and restore unity in the party. However, the sources said the timing and nature of the surgery would depend on several factors, including feedback from other senior leaders and the political situation in the state.
The Congress leadership is wary of what happened in Punjab where former chief minister Amarinder Singh, caught in a feud with rival Navjot Singh Sidhu, quit the party and formed his own outfit after he was made to quit the chief ministership about six months before the Assembly elections. The move entirely backfired for the Congress and the party was overwhelmingly defeated by the Aam Aadmi Party.
According to party insiders, the leadership has already indicated and supported Gehlot in the hugely embarrassing tussle in the state, where it faces a tough challenge from the BJP. Pilot’s latest confrontation is seen as his attempt to put pressure on the Congress leadership to settle the issue of who will be the key face of the party in Rajasthan, one of the few states it rules.
The Congress high command has so far solidly backed Gehlot and the coming elections too is likely to be fought by the party under his leadership. Many party insiders feel that Pilot’s protest fast on Tuesday ignoring the high command’s warning could be a move towards quitting the party which he had threatened to do in the past.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not miss the opportunity to dig at Gehlot when he was flagging off the Vande Bharat Express between Ajmer and Delhi on Wednesday. Modi referred to Gehlot as a friend and praised him for attending the launch event of the state’s first Vande Bharat Express despite the ongoing political crises in his Congress party.
At the end of his address, Modi pointed to the demands put forward by Gehlot as well as the ongoing political tussle in the Congress. “I express my special gratitude to Gehlot ji as he is going through many political crises these days but despite that, he took out the time for development work and participated in a railway programme. I welcome him,” Modi said.
The Vande Bharat launch function was organised at the Jaipur junction rail station. It was attended by Railway Minister Ashwinin Vaishnaw, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra and others. “The work which should have been done immediately after independence has not been done till now… but you have so much faith in me that you have put that work in front of me today. This is your belief … your faith is the strength of my friendship. I thank you for the trust you have in friendship,” Modi added.
But Gehlot later criticised Modi’s political comments at an official event. He termed as “unfortunate” Modi’s remark that railways had become an arena of politics under previous governments, saying his comments on Wednesday were made with an eye on the coming assembly and general elections.
Gehlot said it was not fair to say the development of the national transporter happened only after 2014. “Today, your speech was given completely keeping in view the 2023-24 assembly and Lok Sabha elections and it was in the form of the election agenda of the BJP. I believe that such comments will not be acceptable to the people of the state and the country,” the Rajasthan chief minister said.
He said in a statement it was “unfortunate” that the prime minister talked about the decisions taken during the tenure of earlier railway ministers as being influenced by corruption and political considerations.
Modi while flagging off the train through video conferencing had said the railways had become an arena of politics under previous governments and political considerations affected its modernisation.
“It is our country’s misfortune that an important system like the railways, which is such a big part in the lives of common people, was turned into an arena of politics,” he said, adding “things changed” after the country got a stable government in 2014.
Responding to Modi’s comments at the launch, Gehlot said in an attempt to reduce the importance of railways, the Centre abolished the separate railway budget during Modi’s tenure.
Gehlot said if the modern train is able to run today, it is because of the former prime minister Manmohan Singh who as the finance minister did economic liberalisation in 1991 and gave new technology an opportunity to develop India.
“Technological advancements have taken place all over the world over time, due to which new technology has also come in India and there have been improvements in the railways,” he said. He also named the host of former railway ministers whose efforts have brought the national transporters to the present level as against Modi trying to hog all the credit for modernisation of railways to his government.
