Ashok Gehlot makes his move: ‘The CM post won’t leave me’

Adding enough caveats and disclaimers to allow wiggle room for himself and his party – which has spent the better part of the past five years placating Gehlot’s rival Sachin Pilot – Gehlot took a swipe by suggesting that those openly aspiring for CM post seldom got it in the Congress, himself raised the Pilot issue, and then argued that while he “wants to leave the top post”, “the post was not leaving me and may not do so in the future”.

The setting was also interesting. Gehlot was addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, 24, Akbar Road, in Delhi, in the midst of hectic meetings to draw up the party’s candidate list. As The Indian Express reported, one major reason for the names being held up is Gehlot objecting to the suggestion that some Congress MLAs be benched, including many ministers of his Cabinet.

One of the promises the Congress is believed to have repeatedly made to the impatient Pilot, who believes the CM post should have been his after the 2018 win, is that he would eventually get the top job.

Given the feathers he was about to ruffle, Gehlot appeared relaxed, sprinkling his statement with political tales and conversations.

Asked about the delay in the release of the Congress list and whether it was because of differences, he said the party’s rivals were troubled as there was no fighting over names. And then he addressed the elephant in the room: “Aap Sachin Pilot ki taraf ishara kar rahe honge (You must be hinting at Pilot)… All the decisions that are being taken are taken after consultations with everyone… Jo Sachin Pilot saab ke supporter bhi honge, un sab ke faislon mein main bhagidaar ban raha hoon unke paksh mein (All those who are supporters of Pilot, I am intervening on their behalf in all the decisions). So you can imagine how smoothly decisions are being taken. Only the BJP should be worried, no one else.”

Asked whether he would oppose giving tickets to those who had rebelled in 2020, along with Pilot, Gehlot said he believed in the policy “forgive and forget”, and has moved on. “Those who went… many went… the only criteria now is winnability. We have forgotten all that. Now we want to fight the election together.”

He then added that the tickets of those who went with Pilot are being cleared. “What more examples can I give? I did not object to even one ticket in the meeting. From that you can gauge the love there is inside the party.”

Asked whether he would continue as CM if the Congress retained power, Gehlot said the first decision of Sonia Gandhi when she became Congress president in 1998 was to name him to the post. “I was not a candidate for the CM post. Aur Congress main umeedwar nahin banana zyada behtar rehta hai (And in the Congress, it is better not to be an aspirant). One who is an aspirant, never becomes CM.”

Then the CM recounted a recent conversation with an old woman after a free heart transplant in the state. Gehlot said she wished he became the CM again, for the fourth time. “I told her… ‘Main mukhyamantri pad chodhna chahta hoon, par yeh pad mujhe nahi chodh raha hai (I want to leave the CM post, but this CM post is not leaving me)’. Now you understand… how many CMs in India have the courage to say that they want to leave the post but the post is not leaving them?”

He added: “So, I am saying again today that I want to leave but the post is not leaving me… Aur shayad chodhega bhi nahin (And maybe it will not leave in the future too).”

Gehlot rushed to say that these comments were in a lighter vein. “The high command has reposed immense trust in me… it is rare in the country. There must be some reason that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi have faith in me… the family which is keeping the Congress together. There should be some reason that I got the opportunity to become the CM a third time.”

Vowing his support to Rahul, Gehlot added: “He is fighting… he is the only leader taking on Narendra Modi. So it is our responsibility to strengthen his hands in the interest of the country, instead of talking about posts. And any decision taken by the party is acceptable to all of us.”

But, on whether the party would deny tickets to 30% of its sitting MLAs, as suggested by state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, Gehlot said a sitting MLA can be replaced only when there is an alternative face or when there is some corruption charge against the MLA. He then reiterated his argument that had the MLAs been corrupt, they would have taken money offered to them to topple his government in 2020.

About Vasundhara Raje, who is having a hard time in the BJP, Gehlot said she should not be “punished” by her party just because she had “saved” his government during the 2020 rebellion. It would be “injustice” to her, the CM said.

The remarks are unlikely to do Raje any good, as her detractors often accuse her of being too friendly towards Gehlot.