The assembly of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly is to be held on 25 November on 200 seats. The deadline for filing nomination papers for the Rajasthan elections has also passed and with it, it is clear who is competing on every seat. In the final list of the Congress that came a day before the last date of filing nominations, the three names were the most eager. Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi, and Dharmendra Rathore are considered close to CM Ashok Gehlot. There were reports of objections from the Congress leadership in the names of these three leaders. When the final list came, the names of Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore were not on the list. However, the party had again fielded Shanti Dhariwal from the Kota North Assembly seat.
Dhariwal received the ticket, while the names of Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore were dropped, starting a new discussion. The question arises as to how Dhariwal survived and how Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore did not get the ticket. This question is also arising because all three had emerged as villains in the leadership in the sequence of events on 25 September 2022. Even, no action was taken, but the party leadership issued notices to the leaders to give reasons for their deeds.
What is the reason for the high command’s anger?
Before the election of Congress President, Ashok Gehlot’s name was running for this post. The then working president of Congress, Sonia Gandhi, had made Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge observers and sent them to Jaipur for the legislature party meeting. On 25 September, both the leaders called a meeting of the legislature party at CM Gehlot’s residence, but the supporting Gehlot MLAs stayed away from the meeting.
The MLAs held a meeting at Shanti Dhariwal’s residence and after resigning from the membership of the Assembly, went to the Assembly Speaker’s residence. Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore were said to be the perpetrators of this entire exercise. Dhariwal had even said, “Who is the high command? Only Gehlot is everything in Rajasthan.” This was also seen as a direct challenge to the leadership.
The Congress leadership remained silent but when the turn came for ticket distribution, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi got angry after seeing the names of these leaders on the list. Seeing Dhariwal’s name, Sonia Gandhi also expressed her displeasure, however, in the end, he was successful in getting the ticket.
Why did Dhariwal’s turban survive?
It is being said that CM Gehlot had given up his insistence on getting the ticket to Dharmendra Rathore first. According to the sources, a big leader from another state was lobbying to get a ticket for Rathore.
Now among the two remaining close ones, Gehlot finally agreed to the demand of not giving a ticket to Mahesh Joshi and finally made a request that the high command agree to the two names, hoping they agree on at least one name. It was also speculated that even when Sachin Pilot was the Deputy CM in the Gehlot cabinet, Dhariwal was considered number two. Denial of Dhariwal’s ticket would have directly meant that Gehlot’s era was over. In such a situation, the effort to balance power may also be a major reason behind giving the ticket to Dhariwal.
Importance of fielding Dhariwal in Kota
One reason for Dhariwal’s ticket was the narrowing distance between BJP’s Prahlad Gunjal and Om Birla, who were MLAs from the Kota North seat. The enmity between Vasundhara Raje’s supporter Prahlad Gunjal and Kota MP Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is well known. BJP also did not announce a ticket from Kota North seat due to Om Birla’s lack of consent. Munjal filed his nomination after meeting Speaker Birla and on the same day, Congress also announced Dhariwal’s name.
It is being said that amid the enmity between Munjal and Birla, Congress was finding its path easy from the Kota North seat. In such a situation, the party had also made preparations to bet on a new face.
But the picture changed in the final list and then Congress felt that betting on a new face could reduce the party’s chances of winning. However, the real reason behind giving a ticket to Dhariwal and cutting the ticket of Joshi-Rathore is only known to the party.