Recalling simmering saga of Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot feud in 5 Acts

But five years later, that motorcycle ride has become a distant memory. The present is clouded by the no-holds-barred feud between Gehlot and Pilot, which has resulted in a factional war, cleaving the Congress organisation in Rajasthan. Verbal barbs, police cases, protests and yatras — Congress infighting in the state has been making much more news than the opposition BJP’s efforts to criticise its policies.

At times, Pilot and his supporters have questioned CM Gehlot and his administration with more zeal than even the BJP, resulting in an all-out war among the ranks of the grand old party.

But how did the two leaders reach the current standoff, where there appears to be little scope for rapprochement or truce? Let us take you through the various acts of this ongoing, high-voltage political drama.

Act I (December 2018): Gehlot pips Pilot for CM post

The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 Rajasthan elections, winning 99 seats in the 200-member state Assembly. However, it was still one MLA short of the halfway mark.

It was at this point that Gehlot played his cards. Congress needed the support of Independent MLAs and legislators from allies such as the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to form the government. At least 10 of the 13 Independent MLAs were former Congress leaders, even Union ministers, who went on to win without the party’s backing after they had been denied tickets. Then state Congress president Pilot had replaced them with relatively younger leaders, who had failed to beat the old-timers, whose grip on their constituencies remained strong.

After the elections, the pro-Gehlot Independent MLAs promised to support a Congress-led government only if Gehlot was made the CM. This effectively put an end to Pilot’s ambition for the top job, and he had to settle for the deputy CM’s chair. After a few days of fierce lobbying before the Congress high command by both camps, Gehlot became the CM.

After the swearing-in ceremony in December 2018, it became evident that Gehlot had had the last word, as he kept crucial ministries like Home and Finance for himself.

Act II (January 2019-July 2020): Pilot’s dissent within govt

Despite being the deputy CM, Pilot’s influence in governance was curtailed, with Gehlot and his loyalist ministers such as Shanti Dhariwal calling the shots. It was inevitable then, that Pilot would emerge as a dissenting voice within the government, with the deputy CM often taking a stance contradictory to that of his own government.

In October 2019, he put the Congress in a tricky spot after disagreeing with the new system of mayoral elections introduced by Urban Development Minister Dhariwal, a close aide of Gehlot. Pilot said the Rajasthan government’s decision to allow individuals not elected by the public to contest mayoral elections was not right, and would weaken democracy. Under pressure, the state government had to reverse the decision.

In January 2020, after several infants died at Kota’s J K Lone Hospital due to alleged negligence of the hospital administration, the Congress government put the blame on the previous BJP regime, saying the hospital was in a bad state for many years. Pilot spoke out and reminded his own government that after a year in power, blaming the BJP did not serve any purpose. The opposition BJP seized the opportunity and said it agreed with Pilot. Subsequently, Pilot would remind the government of its responsibilities on several issues, such as law and order and atrocities against women and Dalits.

As political appointments were stuck in limbo owing to the tussle between the two leaders, Pilot also frequently repeated his demand that those who worked on the ground and helped the Congress to form government should be made stakeholders in governance. With his frequent criticism of and disagreements with his own government, Pilot established himself as a parallel power centre within it.

Act III (July-August 2020): Police cases, MLAs in hotels & political crisis

In the wake of Pilot’s July 2020 rebellion against Gehlot, the state Congress underwent a dramatic change, and pushed the Gehlot government into political uncertainty.

Pilot took off with 18 of his loyalist MLAs and camped for over a month in the BJP-ruled Haryana and Delhi. In response, the Congress shifted the Gehlot loyalists to hotels and resorts in Jaipur and Jaisalmer. Pilot had gone incommunicado after the state police under CM Gehlot served him a notice under the IPC section pertaining to sedition. The state police also registered cases against some of the MLAs who had sided with Pilot.

Shortly afterwards, the Congress removed Pilot from the post of deputy CM and state party president. It also sacked two ministers loyal to him, and dissolved all of its district and block committees, in which many Pilot loyalists were office-bearers. To this day, three years down the line, most Rajasthan districts do not have a functioning Congress president. CM Gehlot launched a scathing personal attack on Pilot, even calling him nakara (useless) and nikamma (worthless).

After the Pilot group skipped an official CLP (Congress Legislature Party) meeting called by the state Congress, the Assembly Speaker sent the group show cause notices on the basis of a complaint by the party. Pilot and his loyalists moved court, challenging the notices. The ensuing drama continued for a month, with both factions engaged in a war of words.

Act IV (August 2020-September 2022): Shaky truce, but animosity remains

In August 2020, after a month of uncertainty over the Rajasthan Congress government’s future, the Congress high command brokered a shaky truce between Pilot and Gehlot, and formed a committee to address the issues raised by the former.

Without his twin posts of deputy CM and state party president, Pilot was now only an MLA. But he continued to act as a separate power centre, with his loyalist MLAs often speaking out against the Gehlot faction, and the latter responding in kind.

The resulting impasse caused delays in political appointments and Cabinet expansion in the state. After dragging on for over a year, the Cabinet expansion finally took place at the end of 2021, when ministers from the Pilot faction who were sacked during the 2020 crisis were reinstated. Pilot loyalists kept hoping that the high command would make a leadership change in Rajasthan and batted for a younger leader to take over the reins from Gehlot.

Act V (September 2022-Present): Gehlot’s ‘gaddar’ jibe, Pilot’s ‘yatra’ & Raje accusations

As election for the Congress national president approached, speculation within the party grew that the Gandhi family wanted CM Gehlot to contest for the highest post in the party. Congress sources said the party high command hoped to kill two birds with one stone — ending the long-running tussle between the two by shifting Gehlot out of Rajasthan and making Pilot the CM, while gaining a leader of Gehlot’s stature as the party’s national president.

On September 25, 2022, a CLP meeting was convened at Gehlot’s residence in the presence of senior Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge – who is currently the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president – and the party’s then Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken.

But the Gehlot-camp MLAs skipped the CLP meeting, holding a parallel meeting instead, thereby dashing Pilot’s chances of becoming the CM. The Gehlot camp MLAs tendered their resignations and demanded that nobody from the 19 MLAs, including Pilot — who had camped in Delhi and Haryana during the 2020 political crisis — be made the CM.

The fresh conflict led to tension between Gehlot and Pilot reaching boiling point. Months later, Gehlot called Pilot a gaddar (traitor). In April this year, Pilot held a press conference and accused Gehlot of not taking any action in alleged corruption cases dating back to the tenure of the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government. He later held a day-long fast in Jaipur, demanding an investigation into the allegations.

Gehlot hit back by claiming that his own party’s MLAs took money from the BJP and “urged” them to return it. Once again, Pilot termed his allegations baseless and announced a yatra against his own government on the issue of corruption. Since the yatra, Pilot has given an ultimatum to Gehlot, threatening to agitate further if his demand — that the government take action on corruption cases — is not met.

With just months left for the state Assembly elections, the ruling Congress’s fate hangs in balance, as the game of one-upmanship between Gehlot and Pilot — who once rode a motorcycle together — shows no sign of abating.