Just months before elections in Rajasthan, the fault lines in the state’s Congress unit came to the fore on Sunday, as party leader Sachin Pilot opened a fresh line of attack on his rival, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, announcing that he will sit on a one-day fast against corruption on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old leader has demanded that the Gehlot government act against the alleged corruption of the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje.
Pilot said that it was necessary to assure people that the Congress government was acting on its statements and promises made before the 2018 assembly elections. He said that the government had failed to act against the excise mafia, illegal mining, land encroachment and the Lalit Modi affidavit case.
Soon after Congress leader Sachin Pilot opened afresh line of attack on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Jaipur, the party high command put its weight firmly behind the CM in what is being viewed as a strong message to the former PCC chief. After this move by the leadership, Pilot seems to have been isolated in the party. The Congress high command’s move to back Gehlot came close on heels of Pilot trying to revive war with the CM by raising question his own party government. Pilot seems to be doing so at the behest of the opposition in Rajasthan, given the timing of the tirade.
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh gave a clear message that the high command is firmly with Gehlot.
Ramesh in a statement said that the party has achieved landmark achievements under CM Ashok Gehlot’s tenure, based on which the party will seek a renewed mandate from the people later this year. He said that CM Gehlot has launched several people-friendly schemes which have put the state in a leading and guiding role nationally. It was due to organisational dedication and determination that the Bharat Jodo Yatra was a grand success in Rajasthan, Ramesh said, adding, “Congress will seek votes on the basis of these historical achievements and organisation’s collective efforts during the polls this year-end.”
With this, the leadership’s message to Pilot and his supporters is that the anti-party activities will not be accepted. Jairam’s statement is a clear signal that the high command is fully backing Gehlot and any move by rivals will be considered as disrespect to the party. The high command has in other words has made it clear that the internal tussle and tumult in the Congress has come to an end now.
In fact, Sachin Pilot’s statements questioning Congress’ government in Rajasthan was being seen as an attempt to weaken Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against the Modi government. So, the party is likely to take tough action against Pilot in days to come.
The way Pilot, who was sacked as PCC chief three years ago, launched an attack against CM Gehlot indicated that the former Dy CM will not stay in the Congress for much longer. He did not say anything regarding his plan to quit the party. But his statements are a strong pointer towards the same.
Pilot’s move to fire a fresh salvo against his own party government over some corruption issues has come at a time when the entire Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi is consistently targeting the Modi government over alleged “corruption” in the Adani scam. So, Pilot’s press conference against CM Gehlot did not go down well with the party leadership. When contacted by The Daily Guardian, Rajasthan party in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Pilot should have spoken to him before all this. Sachin has not so far given any letter regarding the “corruption issues” raised by him to Randhawa.
In fact, Pilot’s move is a reminder of what Jyotiraditya Scindia did when he left Congress in 2020. Scindia had also announced to hit the streets against his own party government and Chief Minister in Madhya Pradesh. Pilot has also announced to stage a dharna with fast. Pilot apparently wants the party to sack him so that he could try to woo people’s sympathy on the corruption issue for his own political agenda. It is not clear as yet whether Pilot will join some other party or he will float his own outfit. There are two important points that can be noted from Pilot’s press conference. One, Sachin Pilot spoke the language of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. The AAP convenor had last month accused CM Gehlot and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje of being hand in glove on the issue of corruption. He said the CM raised certain cases but did not take any action after the formation of the government. Sachin made similar allegations during the press conference. He said that “we raised corruption issues when we were in opposition, but no action has been taken after coming to power.” The second point is about the timing of Pilot’s press conference. It is being seen as an attempt to weaken Rahul’s campaign against PM Modi over an alleged scam of Rs 20,000 crore. Congress is on roads flagging this issue. Sachin had allegedly tried to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan three years ago. CM Gehlot had managed to save the government. The allegation about rebel MLAs getting Rs 10 crore each hadsurfaced at that time. The Congress had accused the BJP of bribing the legislators. After intervention by seniors, Sachin was somehow allowed to be back in the Congress. But his supporters still try to destabilise the government. During Bharat Jodo Yatra, it was made clear that CM will not be changed in Rajasthan.
But despite that Sachin’s supporters continued to make embarrassing comments against the government. Sachin also stopped attending party meetings. Randhawa kept cautioning them against making such remarks. But disobeying the instructions, Pilot tried to corner his own party government. The Congress is confident of retaining power in Rajasthan. But Pilot has given the opposition a much-needed opportunity to attack the government.
