‘Must follow discipline’: Gehlot responds to Pilot’s barbs

In an apparent fresh bid to replace Ashok Gehlot as the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Sachin Pilot has said publicly that it was time “to end the climate of indecision in Rajasthan” and punish all those Congress MLAs in the state who revolted against the party.

To that, Gehlot retorted saying “nobody should make such remarks” and the focus should be on retaining the government in Rajasthan. Rajasthan goes to polls in about 13 months.

“Congress is an old party with the same rules for everyone, no matter how senior. I am sure the new president, Mallikarjun Kharge, will decide (on the issue) soon,” Pilot told reporters while campaigning in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday.

“PM praised Azad too”

He also took a dig at Gehlot for sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Tuesday and receiving “praise” from him. “It’s interesting that the PM praised (Gehlot) yesterday. It must not be taken lightly. The PM similarly praised Ghulam Nabi Azad in Parliament, and we all saw what happened,” Pilot said.

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At Tuesday’s event, PM Modi said, “Ashok ji and I have worked together as chief ministers. He was the most senior in our lot. He is still one of the most senior chief ministers among those on the stage right now.”

In August thus year, Azad left the Congress and announced the formation of a new party in September. Later in September, he announced the name of his new party as Democratic Azad Party.

“Everybody must follow discipline”

Talking about the issue of revolting Gehlot loyalists, Pilot said party observer KC Venugopal had told him the Congress would soon take a decision on “the Rajasthan situation.” Reacting to Pilot’s statement later, Gehlot said, “Nobody should make such remarks. KC Venugopal has asked everybody in the party not to make any such remarks. We want everybody to follow discipline.”

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“Currently, we should have one objective…the public is suffering…there is tension, violence, inflation, and unemployment. And, for that, Rahul Gandhi is working hard, walking kilometres every day, to mount pressure on the Centre,” Gehlot added.

He added that the focus should be on how to retain the government in Rajasthan. “We have introduced many schemes in Rajasthan, which never happened in the state. We are working to retain the government on good governance,” Gehlot  told the media in Alwar.

Both guilty

Incidentally, Pilot is also guilty of acting against the party line. The Rajasthan fiasco began in July 2020, when Pilot, then the state’s Deputy Chief Minister, made a dash for Gehlot’s post. Twenty MLAs were whisked away to a resort near Delhi, with the message that unless Pilot was made the CM, he would break the party.

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However, the support he got can at best be termed modest and his plan fell through. He was penalised for his revolt by being removed from the posts of the Deputy CM and the president of the party’s Rajasthan unit.

Then, in September this year, the then interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi tried to pacify all sides by urging the 71-year-old Gehlot to replace her as the party head. Pilot was reportedly assured that if everything went well, he would finally get the coveted Rajasthan CM’s post.

Party yet to act

However, Gehlot demanded that he handle both—the Rajasthan top job as well as the Congress’s—despite being a senior member of the party that has a “one-person-one-post” rule. His stance drew a public reproach from Rahul Gandhi, and the party held a meeting of MLAs in Rajasthan to assess whether it was time for a new Chief Minister.

In response, over 90 Gehlot loyalists defiantly stayed away and met instead at a separate session where they insisted that Gehlot should have veto rights on his replacement. They also threatened to quit if Pilot was declared out of the running for the post.

The party issued show-cause notice to three Gehlot loyalists for “grave indiscipline,” and the very next day, Gehlot met Sonia in Delhi. He apologised profusely on behalf of his loyalists. However, the party is yet to act against Gehlot’s supporters and solve the Rajasthan impasse.

Demand for action

“Observers took the situation in Rajasthan seriously. The party has said it was indiscipline. Three MLAs got notices. There should now be action,” Pilot argued on Wednesday, speaking about the issue openly for the first time. He also pointed out that Gehlot had apologised to Sonia for the defiance of his loyalists.

Pilot’s demand is not totally unjustified. When the Congress won the Rajasthan Assembly polls in 2018, the Gandhis reportedly told Pilot that he would time-share the CM’s job with the much senior Gehlot, who would get the first half of the five-year term. However, nothing came of that promise.

Observers had earlier noted that Sonia might leave the unenviable job of solving the Rajasthan riddle to Kharge. And it is indeed among the most pressing problems facing the new Congress president.

(With agency inputs)