The high-decibel election for the Congress presidency is over. And now the focus will now be back on Rajasthan. New Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the senior leadership will have to take a call on whether to let Ashok Gehlot continue as Chief Minister, given the huge support he has of the MLAs, or force a regime change and bring in Sachin Pilot. Sources in the party said the Rajasthan issue was “still open” and argued that a decision had been deferred till the party presidential elections. One of the first tasks before Kharge will be to settle the dispute in the state unit. And it is a tricky one. On one side is a veteran chief minister with the support of a majority of the MLAs and on the other side is a young leader who had been informally assured of the chief minister’s post by the Gandhis. The state will go to elections in a year and retaining the state — Rajasthan has a history of alternating between the Congress and the BJP — is important for the grand old party. Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh will be held in November-December next year, months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Although the outcome cannot be linked to the general elections — the Congress won all three in 2018 but lost the Lok Sabha elections badly months later — the party would like to set the tempo. The Pilot camp believes the MLAs will fall in line and switch sides once a signal goes out from the high command. But the central leadership’s attempt to dethrone Gehlot had come a cropper last month, with MLAs loyal to him openly defying the leadership and staying away from a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting convened at the instance of the high command. Significantly, the dramatic scenes played out before Kharge who was in Jaipur as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer. Gehlot knows well that the issue is far from settled. His public utterances in the last few days, including his assertion that there is no alternative to experience and that the youth should have patience and wait for their turn, were viewed as indications that he was not ready to be elbowed out easily. The high command, too, has been sending out some signals. The party put out a statement last week saying Sonia Gandhi had deputed Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel as the party’s “representatives” at the funeral of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. This surprised many as the party knew that Gehlot too would travel to Saifai. Many wondered whether it was a signal that Sonia was still upset with Gehlot for the unprecedented defiance in Jaipur. Gehlot too has been making some moves. He has come out in open support of Kharge and made statements in his favour, much to the chagrin of the Shashi Tharoor camp. It is not that the Rajasthan CM has something against Tharoor. A clever politician, Gehlot knows when and how to play his cards. Not to be outdone, Pilot was among the first leaders to call on Kharge after his victory to congratulate the veteran leader. Gehlot too reached Kharge’s Rajaji Marg residence and congratulated him. The final act in the Rajasthan drama is yet to come.
