Gehlot confidant left out in the cold as Congress high command has its way

Dropping Joshi indicates that the high command had its way and prevailed over CM Gehlot, who has had a say in most tickets, with the party repeating a majority of its sitting MLAs so far. In September last year, Joshi was one of three Gehlot camp leaders who had led a boycott of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meet, which was apparently called to empower the high command to pick a new CM, said to have been Sachin Pilot.

Joshi has been one of the prominent leaders of the Gehlot camp. He was by his side during the 2020 political crisis, managing tasks such as herding MLAs into hotels as the Chief Whip, and had emerged as a key player who helped Gehlot stave off threats from within the party and without.

However, the rebellion by Gehlot camp MLAs last year had angered the high command and three leaders had come into its crosshairs, including Joshi. The party has also not declared its candidate from Kota North so far, which is the constituency of cabinet minister Shanti Dhariwal, while the third architect of the rebellion, Dharmendra Rathore, though not an MLA, was also nursing aspirations for a ticket but has not been fielded from anywhere so far.

The development comes at a particularly bad time for Joshi, who has been battling personal setbacks, including raids by the Enforcement Directorate on top officials in his Public Health Engineering Department over an alleged scam.

The Pilot camp had also been gunning for these three leaders and the move is expected to appease Pilot, who has often raised the issue of CLP boycott. With this move, the high command not only appeases Pilot but also wins back some of its authority in the state, which has been on the decline for the past few years.

Pilot camp leader Abhimanyu Poonia has also been fielded by the party from Sangaria. Poonia has been a student leader and is the former state president of NSUI, Rajasthan. In some other seats too, the party has opted for relatively younger faces. In Soorsagar, it has fielded Shahjad Khan, son of 2018’s losing candidate Ayub Khan, who is now a member of Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC). In Shahpura, Manish Yadav has been fielded.

Those dropped include MLA J P Chandelia, who was replaced from Pilani with Peetram Kala. Aspirants had to face disappointment in quite a few other seats. In Chomu, the party has fielded Dr Shikha Meel Barala, instead of its 2018 losing candidate Bhagwan Sahai Saini or Rukshmani Kumari, President of the Rajasthan chapter of All India Professionals’ Congress.

CM’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma had been seeking a ticket from Bhilwara. Instead, the party has fielded Om Narayaniwal. In Malpura, it has fielded Ghasi Lal Choudhary; Dr Chandrabhan, former party state president, was seeking a ticket from here. In 2018, the party had left the seat for RLD, which had lost to a BJP candidate.

However, the Congress has again left the Bharatpur seat for RLD. Currently, it is held by minister Subhash Garg who is expected to contest from this seat again.