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Journalism of Courage
The ripples of the Congress presidential election, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s name pitched in, are being felt in Rajasthan.
As the supporters of Sachin Pilot – pushed to the margins under Gehlot, especially since the young leader’s failed rebellion of July-August 2020 – spot an opening for him, many of them are speaking up.
Earlier this week, Congress MLA and Rajasthan Scheduled Caste Commission chairman Khiladi Lal Bairwa set off a buzz clearly batting for Pilot as CM, adding that the youth and his Gujjar community were 100 per cent behind him.
“Ashok Gehlot ji is our old leader. He has been doing politics for 40 years. In today’s situation, if there is talk of change, being such a big leader, he himself should consider and prepare the new generation,” Bairwa said.
A former MP, Bairwa incidentally was not among the 18 loyalist MLAs who had sided with Pilot during the political crisis in the state in 2020.
While Rajasthan Minister Udaylal Anjana hit back at Bairwa saying such public statements don’t bode well for the party, Pilot camp legislators did not hide their sentiments.
Addressing a gathering of the Gujjar community on Tuesday, a day after Bairwa’s support for Pilot, MLA Chaksu Ved Prakash Solanki said: “The uparwala (man at the top) is not seeing what the youth want to see.” Solanki added that the demand this time had come not from one of “us”, but from “your (Gehlot)” side. “Slowly, as the elections approach, everybody will say this,” the MLA from Chaksu who was one of the 18 rebel MLAs said, to loud cheers.
Leaving little doubt about whom he wanted as CM, Solanki said: “Listen carefully to one thing. I am not with any party, I am saying this repeatedly that I am with Sachin Pilot ji.”
The Pilot camp sees this as their last shot at the CM’s post before the elections in Rajasthan, which are just 15 months away now. While the high command is believed to have promised to replace Gehlot close to the elections in a bid for truce between the two bitter rivals, Pilot’s supporters are pragmatic now about that not happening till Gehlot willingly steps aside.
At the same time, Gehlot has given an indication that he is happy being in Rajasthan and not really keen on the Congress president’s post, even supposedly as a nominee of the Gandhis. As per reports, one of the conditions he will put if he agrees to move is that a loyalist replace him as CM in the state.
On Wednesday, asked by reporters about the election to Congress president and some people (Gehlot) being reluctant to take the post, Pilot was cryptic: “Rajneeti mein jo dikhta hai woh hota nahin hai, jo hota hai woh dikhta nahin (In politics, what you see is not what is the reality, and what the reality is, you can’t see).”
For his part, Gehlot, 71, has indicated he might retain both the posts, of CM and Congress chief. “I am in your midst. I repeatedly say that I am not far from you. Till my last breath, I am not going to stay away from this state, whatever the responsibilities may be,” he told reporters, soon after news emerged that he had been sounded out by Sonia Gandhi for the top post.
