Journalism of Courage
Congress leaders from the Hadoti region who are considered close to former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot have urged the party high command to resolve the leadership issue in Rajasthan before the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra enters the state through Hadoti in the first week of December.
Over the weekend, party leaders in Jhalawar, Kota and Bundi held press conferences in their districts and demanded that pending issues, including that of state leadership, should be addressed through one-to-one interactions between the central leadership and party MLAs in the state.
In a joint statement, former Bundi zila pramukh Rakesh Boyat, Chairman of Bundi Urban Cooperative Bank Satyesh Sharma, and others said: “While there is excitement regarding the Bharat Jodo Yatra, there is uncertainty in state Congress politics. The Congress workers and people of the state are awaiting a quick decision (on Chief Minister) through one-to-one discussion with MLAs so that in an election year, we can work unitedly towards a win.”
They added: “It would be appropriate to take a final decision on the pending issue in Rajasthan before Bharat Jodo Yatra enters the state, so that the confusion in the party can be ended… additional delay may have a negative effect on the party’s prospects.”
Talking to journalists, Boyat said they believed that the discussions with MLAs would be held soon.
The party’s district president for Kota Rural, Saroj Meena, too held a press conference, saying: “The Congress worker is looking towards the party high command – only 12 months remain for the 2023 Assembly elections – so whatever the high command has to decide, it should talk to MLAs individually and make whoever they want as the CM.”
Batting for Pilot, saying the Congress would come back to power under him, she criticised Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. “I have been seeking time (from him) for the past four years, yet I haven’t got it till now.”
In Jhalawar, former Manohar Thana MLA Kailash Meena, former Nagar Palika chairman Mubarik Mansuri, party leader Suresh Gurjar and others held a press meeting where they made similar demands from the high command. “Before the yatra enters here, the uncertainty in state politics should be resolved. We ask the high command to decide things quickly,” Gurjar said.
The development comes almost two weeks after Pilot himself asked the central leadership to “end the climate of indecision in Rajasthan” and took potshots at CM Gehlot, saying that it was “interesting” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised the CM (on November 1 in Mangarh Dham), and that this “must not be taken lightly”.
With just a year to go for Assembly elections in the state, Pilot’s supporters feel that there shouldn’t be any more delay in appointing him as the CM, and that this should have happened on September 25 itself. That day, about 90 party MLAs had skipped a Congress Legislature Party meeting where they were expected to pass a one-line resolution giving the party high command the right to pick the next CM – said to have been Pilot – as Gehlot was slated to contest for the post of Congress president. However, Gehlot’s loyalists had virtually engineered a rebellion, skipped the CLP meeting, and submitted their resignations to Rajasthan Speaker C P Joshi instead.
Eventually, Gehlot had withdrawn from the Congress presidentship race, apparently as a gesture of contrition. While the high command had then indicated he was on his way out as CM, Gehlot remains as firmly entrenched.
