Miffed over Sachin Pilot’s move to stage fast-cum-protest on April 11 against Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s ‘inaction’ in corruption cases against former BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje, the Congress high command has decided to back the veteran, writesAmit Agnihotri
Rajasthan is a crucial state for the Congress which is hopeful of retaining power in 2023 but faces a stiff challenge from the opposition BJP. The AAP, which had dented the Congress votes in the last year’s Gujarat assembly polls, is also trying to find a foothold in Rajasthan.
The Pilot-Gehlot rivalry actually goes back to 2018 when the grand old party had wrested power from the BJP. Pilot was then the state unit chief and had worked hard since 2014 to revive the party. Gehlot too had played a key role behind the party’s win and through his deft moves was able to get the chief minister’s post for a third time.
Pilot, who had been deployed by Rahul Gandhi after the party lost power in 2013 under Gehlot as chief minister, had expected to become the chief minister in 2018 as he had delivered on a key promise made to the party high command but the young leader was miffed when he had to settle down for the post of deputy chief minister.
Though Pilot was allowed to remain the state unit chief, the young leader continued to live in the hope that he would get a fair share in the state power structure in due time. However, as status quo continued, Pilot got impatient in 2020 and led a rebellion of over a dozen MLAs loyal to him.
Gehlot, the wily politician, used the occasion to brand Pilot as a rebel who played into the hands of the BJP to topple his elected government. Pilot, who was cornered, tried hard to explain to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra that he was only trying to raise the concerns of the party workers who had been neglected by Gehlot and was in no way playing the BJP’s game.
As confusion continued, Gehlot quickly managed to remove Pilot both as deputy chief minister and state unit chief, bringing in his loyalist Govind Singh Dotasara as the new head of Rajasthan Congress.
On his part, Rahul did try to get justice for Pilot and deployed state in charge Ajay Maken to ensure that the young leader’s concerns were addressed. Rahul’s push worked and Gehlot agreed for a cabinet reshuffle in which some of the Pilot loyalists were accommodated but the young leader’s aspirations for a greater say in the state and party affairs could not be met.
