Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 26: With senior Congress leaders upset on the rebellion in the Rajasthan Congress over the choice of the next chief minister and the Gandhis “unhappy” over the issue, the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot is likely out of the Congress’s presidential race.
Though Gehlot is learnt to have “apologised” over his supporters’ behaviour in “humiliating” the high command observers that indicated Gandhis losing their grip over the party, and he and his close aides insisting that Gehlot played no role in the rebellion, some senior Congress leaders said, “The way Gehlot behaved hasn’t gone down well with the party leadership. They are very upset with him.”
A Congress Working Committee member said “He is out of the Congress president’s race. There will be other leaders who will file their nominations before September 30. Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijay Singh, KC Venugopal are in the race.”
Last night, in a massive jolt to the grand old party, over 90 Rajasthan MLAs handed over their resignation letters to protest Sachin Pilot’s candidature to be the next chief minister of the state if Ashok Gehlot wins the party’s internal poll and become the national president. The MLAs wanted Gehlot’s replacement to be someone who stood by the government when Pilot led an open rebellion in 2020, almost bringing the government to the brink of collapse, and would have none from the Pilot camp.
The Congress scrambled to contain the blowing situation as it sent in veteran leaders to speak to the MLAs and address their concerns. Sonia Gandhi instructed the trouble-shooters to ensure an overnight resolution but the Gehlot loyalists refused and the “humiliated” high command observers returned to Delhi without achieving the desired result demonstrating a rebellion in one of the two states the Congress in full control and fighting desperately to retain power in the next year’s elections.
Gehlot had apologised to Central observer Mallikarjun Kharge who was in Jaipur on Sunday for the Legislature Party meet, sources said. Calling the parallel meeting of the MLAs and their subsequent rebellion a “mistake”, Gehlot had said it “should not have happened”, sources said. He had also said he has nothing to do with it.
But Kharge has refused to buy it and expressed the opinion that despite Gehlot’s claims of non-involvement, such a rebellion could not have happened without his consent.
On Sunday, the MLAs supporting Gehlot submitted mass resignation to the speaker making it clear that if he is elected Congress president, they will not accept his bitter rival Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan Chief Minister. They skipped a party meeting yesterday, and refused to talk to Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge, who had asked to meet with them one-on-one. Stood up by the MLAs, Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge headed back to Delhi. Sources accused Team Gehlot of humiliating the central leaders.
Maken slammed the show of defiance, terming it “indiscipline”. The central leaders, it is learnt, feel “upset and humiliated”. The developments appear to indicate that the Gandhis are losing their grip over the party. Gehlot had been reluctant to leave Rajasthan and take on the national role, even suggesting to the Gandhis that he could handle both and should not have to give up the Chief Minister’s job. But Rahul Gandhi publicly slighted him on the double role demand, asserting that the party would stick to a “one person, one role” policy.
Gehlot backed off, seemingly reconciled to his new role, but it was clear he was not about to hand over Rajasthan to his rival Sachin Pilot on a platter. Though he has denied any role in Sunday’s revolt, few believe that Congress MLAs in Rajasthan would take such a big step without his blessing.
State minister Pratap Singh Kachariyawas, close to Chief Minister “swore” that Gehlot was not involved in the protest on Sunday. “I swear that Ashok Gehlot didn’t tell even one MLA (to protest),” Kachariyawas said. He claimed the MLAs left last night for their hometowns not as a show of protest but because of the Navratri festival.
Like Gehlot, Kachariyawas cited a temple visit in the morning to bolster his claim. “It was decided a day before that Gehlot ji would go to the Tanot Mata shrine in Jaisalmer near the India-Pakistan border. There is no phone reception there,” the minister said, suggesting that the Chief Minister was cut off for a few hours.
Kachariyawas said he “didn’t have a personal fight” with Pilot. “But MLAs who were with us and supported us through that revolt, should you not listen to them,” he asked. KL Bairwa, one of the 20 MLAs in Pilot’s corner, scoffed at Team Gehlot denying any revolt.
“The system is that Mr Gehlot must quit. Ask anyone, we are ready to follow what our high command decides. There can be no betrayal, everything will be decided by the high command,” Bairwa said. Questioning Gehlot’s claim that he had no control over the Congress’ turmoil, he said, “Without him saying it, such thing cannot happen.”
