Gehlot Withdraws from Congress President Contest, Leaves Decision on Continuing as Chief Minister to Sonia Gandhi

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 29: In a sudden turn of events, the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday surrendered before the Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, profusely apologised for rebellion by his supporters and stepped out from contesting the party presidential elections.

He even unconditionally left the decision whether he would continue as the Rajasthan chief minister or be replaced by someone else on Mrs Gandhi. The party general secretary KC Venugopal later said Mrs Gandhi, who is also expected to meet Gehlot’s bete noir Sachin Pilot later in the day, would take a decision on the Rajasthan chief minister “in a day or two.”

With Gehlot’s withdrawal from the scene, the contest for the Congress presidential poll may be limited only between the former union minister Shashi Tharoor and the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh, who both are expected to file their nominations on the last day on Friday. So far, no third name has appeared on the horizon for contesting the presidential elections unless the AICC treasurer Pawan Bansal, the only other person to have collected the nominations form in addition to Tharoor and Singh, submitted the papers before the nominations closed.

Gehlot, who met Mrs Gandhi on Thursday afternoon after dodging his Wednesday’s appointment with her for consulting his supporters in Jaipur, profusely apologised to Sonia Gandhi and said he would not run for Congress president, taking “moral responsibility” for the rebellion in Rajasthan by MLAs loyal to him. Emerging out of the meeting with Mrs Gandhi which lasted for more than one and half hours, Gehlot told media persons that he had also left on the party president the decision whether he would continue to hold the chief minister’s post, an office considered dear for him than the Congress presidentship.

With his abject apology, Gehlot has managed to hold on to the post of Rajasthan Chief Minister at least for the time being despite a massive, embarrassing revolt that would not have been possible without his support. More than 90 MLAs threatened mass resignation over reports that if Gehlot ran for Congress president, he would be replaced by his rival Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan.

Ashok Gehlot dropping out of the race means a third candidate for Congress president, who has the blessings of the Gandhis, could be named soon. Nominations close tomorrow for the first Congress election in over two decades with non-Gandhi candidates.

So far, it looks like a Digvijay Singh versus Shashi Tharoor contest in the October 17 election. Singh met with Tharoor after announcing his decision to contest. Sharing a photo of the two hugging, Tharoor tweeted: “I welcome his candidacy for the Presidency of our Party. We both agreed that ours is not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest among colleagues. All we both want is that whoever prevails, Congress will win!”

Ashok Gehlot was seen to be the Gandhis’ first choice for Congress president, until the rebellion by Rajasthan Congress MLAs loyal to him damaged his chances. The MLAs said they would not accept Sachin Pilot, who had rebelled against Gehlot in 2020, as his replacement.

The MLAs laid out conditions before two central leaders and high command observers for the Sunday’s legislature party meeting Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge, who described the rebellion as “gross indiscipline” in their report to Sonia Gandhi. Three ministers close to Gehlot were asked to explain their role in engineering the rebellion within 10 days.

For now, the Congress leadership has asserted its authority by managing to make Gehlot come to Delhi, publicly apologise to Mrs Gandhi and also leave the choice of his successor in Rajasthan to her.

After his meeting with Mrs Gandhi, Gehlot declared that he had been a loyal soldier of the party all his life, right from Indira Gandhi’s time. “I was always trusted and given responsibilities, be it that of a Union minister, PCC president, AICC general secretary. And with Soniaji’s blessings, I became the CM for the third time,” he said.

The incident that happened on September 25 “shook all of us”, Gehlot said. “A message went across the country that I wanted to remain as Chief Minister, and that is why (all that) happened. I have apologised to Sonia… sorry feel kiya hai.”

On the CLP meeting that could not happen, he said the one-line resolution should have been passed (his supporters have questioned the insistence on this). “One simple resolution… one-line resolution… it is our tradition to pass that one-line resolution (authorising the Congress president) when a decision is to be made on a CM. Unfortunately, that resolution could not be passed,” Gehlot said, adding that he took responsibility for it.

“Because I am the CLP leader and Chief Minister, and I could not get that resolution passed, whatever the reasons may be, it is my moral responsibility… For the first time, a resolution could not be passed in line with our tradition. Is baat ka dukh mujhe hamesha, zindagi bhar, rahega (I will always regret it, all my life)… I told Soniaji that,” he said.

On contesting for Congress president, he said given what had happened, the message it had sent, and “my moral responsibility to get the resolution passed.” “I have decided that, is mahaul ke andar main chunav nahin ladunga (I will not contest under such circumstances). That is my decision.”

On whether he will remain CM, he said he will not take that decision. “Sonia Gandhi will take that decision.” Gehlot alleged a “motivated attempt to brand him a rebel” at the instance of the “BJP and some vested interests.”