Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 9: With a few months to go for the state Assembly elections, the fault line within the ruling Congress has been exposed again in Rajasthan causing huge concern for the party leadership.
State’s two top leaders, the chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot did not see eye-to-eye for a long time, but despite the party high command advising them to keep their differences under the wrap before going to the polls, had repeatedly gone unheeded by both the leaders.
The latest point of friction, however, may not bring cheers to the rival BJP as the fault line if bridged could only bring trouble for the saffron party. Pilot on Sunday sprang a surprise by declaring that he would sit on a day’s dharna on Tuesday to press his demand for the Gehlot government act against alleged corruption cases by the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje.
Though Pilot’s attempt was to embarrass Gehlot accusing his government of colluding with the BJP by “covering up” the corruption cases, it could equally cause disadvantage to the BJP if old cases were reopened as a settlement between the two factions within the Congress before the elections.
Opening a fresh line of attack on rival Gehlot, the 45-year-old Pilot wanted the government to act against the alleged corruption of the previous Raje government. Pilot said it was necessary to assure people that the Congress government was acting on its statements and promises made before the 2018 assembly elections. He said the government had failed to act against the excise mafia, illegal mining, land encroachment and the Lalit Modi affidavit case.
Addressing a press conference at his residence in Jaipur, the former Deputy CM played video clips of Gehlot’s statements on “BJP’s corruption”, saying he was quite “worried” about the lack of action in these cases. Pilot said he finds the lack of action “vichitra (bizarre)” and added that he had written two letters to Gehlot last year but did not receive any response. Pilot also repeatedly insinuated that to “break this perception” of detractors that there is collusion between Gehlot and Raje, the former needs to act decisively in the corruption cases. He said the Congress government had evidence against the former BJP government but had not acted on it.
To demand action in the corruption cases, Pilot announced a day-long dharna at Jaipur’s Shaheed Smarak on April 11 to coincide with the birth anniversary of social reformer Jyotirao Phule. “Corruption is an issue that touches the public and is a big step towards reforming society. Hence, the inspiration to sit on a protest on his (Jyotirao Phule’s) Jayanti. I have informed the district administration,” he said. Neither Gehlot nor Raje has yet reacted to Pilot’s allegations.
“With six-seven months left for the elections, the opponents can spread an illusion that there is some collusion. Therefore, action will have to be taken soon so that the Congress workers feel that there is no difference between our words and actions,” he said. “We cannot go into the elections with these promises unfulfilled. We have evidence. We should have acted. We should investigate. We are going into elections. The Model Code of Conduct will come into effect soon. We are answerable to the people,” Pilot said.
Pilot also said he had given many suggestions to the party leadership about affairs in Rajasthan, and one of them was to act on these issues. “It is our government. We need to act. So, people continue to have confidence in us,” he said. The charges are the latest in a long-running feud between Pilot and Gehlot that emerged following the last elections in Rajasthan.
Pilot told reporters that after the BJP won the 2013 Assembly elections with a huge mandate of 163 seats, he was made the state Congress president and “we constantly opposed the government on the basis of its policies.” “But the main attack on the government’s credibility was regarding corruption,” he added.
The Tonk MLA said the Congress’s sustained campaign against the BJP’s corruption was instrumental in the public bringing down the BJP “from 163 seats to 70-71 MLAs” and electing a Congress government in 2018.
“We had promised the people that we would effectively and impartially get all the corruption cases against the previous BJP government that had come to light, investigated, and the guilty punished. So we should have acted in a transparent and effective manner to uphold our no-corruption policy. We had assured the people … but it hasn’t been done,” he said, adding that the government should still act “in a transparent and a time-bound manner”.
Playing a compilation of old videos of Ashok Gehlot in which he can be seen speaking on various corruption cases of the BJP, Pilot said he too had then spoken on these cases, perhaps more than even the CM. “When there was the mining scam of Rs 45,000 crore, we had demanded a CBI inquiry. It’s been four-and-a-half years, yet the investigation hasn’t been handed over to the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). During the Lalit Modi case, all of us went to the Governor, the President and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), and demanded various agencies to investigate it,” he said.
Pilot added, “If it comes out at the end of an impartial investigation that there was no corruption, we’ll accept that Gehlot ji and I were wrong. But when there is no inquiry, how can people trust our word?”
Pilot emphasised that when the state goes into elections again later this year the public will trust their word only if the Congress keeps its promises. He said he doesn’t believe in acting out of vendetta or malice, “but it is true that our credibility can only sustain when we are true to our word.”
“I was quite worried about it and about a year ago, I wrote to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, explaining in detail the situation and told him that it’s been three-and-a-half years of our government and it’s time to keep our word. The allegations we — Gehlot ji and I — had levelled against the land mafia, liquor mafia, mining mafia, and in the Lalit Modi case, these are all in the public domain. I had requested him and said we have to demonstrate that there is no difference in our words and actions.”
Pilot claimed he did not get a reply to the letters written to Gehlot on March 28 and November 2 last year. The letters, shared by Pilot with the media on Sunday, contained media reports, Gehlot’s tweets, and interviews on the allegations against the BJP and Raje. Pilot said he had also marked a copy of these letters to the party high command so that they too could take note. “I keep saying that I have given several suggestions for the Congress leadership in Rajasthan. This is one of them,” he said.
Pilot contrasted the lack of action on corruption in Rajasthan with the actions of central investigation agencies. “They (the BJP at the Centre) are misusing the central agencies and 95% of raids or notices by the ED (Enforcement Directorate) are against Opposition leaders. On the one hand, the Central government is misusing the agencies and targeting the Congress leadership by manufacturing fake cases against them. On the other hand, in Rajasthan where we have a government and have agencies, we are neither doing their sadupyog or upyog (good use or even use). This is a vichitra (bizarre) case and I was quite worried about it. Since it’s been more than a year, I wanted it to be in the public domain today because the Congress workers and the public shouldn’t feel that we say one thing and do another.”
Pilot said, “Our detractors can also try and spread this misconception (and ask) whether there is some collusion. Because in the previous Congress government too, (2008-13) when we levelled allegations of Rs 22,000 crore and constituted the Mathur Commission. The courts said there were some legal flaws in it and dismissed it. They can ask why, despite being in power again and again, (we are unable to prove our allegations) … We have to break this perception effectively, because just six to seven months are left for the state elections.”
When the Congress won Rajasthan in 2018, Pilot was reportedly told by the high command that he would time-share the Chief Minister’s job with Gehlot, as his senior, getting the first half of the five-year term. That never came to pass.
Two years later, in 2020, Pilot tried to force a promotion from Deputy Chief Minister by sequestering about 20 MLAs in a resort near Delhi. The message was that unless he was given Gehlot’s job, he would break the party. However, his exercise fizzled out because of the modest support he received. When Pilot’s revolt failed, he was penalised by being removed as Deputy Chief Minister and as the president of the party’s Rajasthan unit and is still left lurching in the political wilderness.
Then, last year, Gehlot flexed his own political muscle to prove to the Congress that he must not be replaced as Chief Minister by Pilot. That possibility came about because Sonia Gandhi urged the 71-year-old to replace her as Congress President. Unwilling to leave Rajasthan, Gehlot suggested a dual role – Chief Minister plus Congress President – provoking a public reproach from Rahul Gandhi who cited the party’s ‘one person, one post’ rule. Gehlot refused to take over the party and stayed put in Rajasthan again shattering pilot’s dream of stepping into his shoes.
