Exactly four years ago, on December 17, 2018, senior Rajasthan Congress leaders Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, stood up on the dais of an all-decked-up stage in Jaipur, and with the majestic structure of the historic Albert Hall behind them, took oath as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister.
Much has changed since that moment. Gehlot still heads the state, but Pilot no longer holds his previous posts of Deputy CM and the Rajathan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) president.
In the last four years, the Congress party in Rajasthan has witnessed Pilot’s rebellion against Gehlot, recurrent bickerings between leaders from both factions, and another rebellion by over 90 MLAs loyal to Gehlot, who, in open defiance of the Congress high command submitted their resignations in September this year to stall its plan to make Pilot take the CM’s mantle.
The Gehlot government’s four-year anniversary comes at a time when the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi is passing through Rajasthan. At the same time, the opposition BJP has moved the court over the MLAs’ resignation after urging Assembly Speaker CP Joshi to decide on the issue.
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Premium“Generally, an environment against the government is built in four years. This is the first time in Rajasthan that even after four years, there is no public mood against the government,” said Gehlot Saturday, speaking at an event held to mark the occasion.
Gehlot spoke extensively about the welfare schemes started by his government, including the Chiranjeevi Health Insurance, the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for state employees and “effective” Covid management during the pandemic.
“One after another, good schemes are being started. People say from where is the money coming? I say jokingly that the money is coming by magic. The money is not coming by magic but through financial management,” said Gehlot, a former magician.
With less than a year left for the next Assembly elections, Gehlot is now leaving no stone unturned to break a twenty-five-year trend of the incumbent state government being voted out in every five years, making this pitch increasingly in his recent speeches.
But the biggest challenge to the Congress returning to power is the Gehlot-Pilot tussle, which has dealt a severe
blow to the grand old party in the state over the last four years.
In the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress had managed to keep infighting under check, and apart from few stray statements of its leaders, the party had largely worked collectively. In a photo-op depicting party unity, in September 2018, Gehlot even rode pillion on a motorcycle driven by Pilot.
The first sign that all was not well in the Congress was seen right after the two leaders took oath, as for several days, the ministerial portfolio allocation remained in limbo. There was then massive lobbying with the high command by both the Gehlot and Pilot factions for ministerial berths.
When the ministerial portfolios were allocated towards the end of December 2018, the Gehlot camp got the lion’s share, with the CM himself keeping key departments such as Finance and Home, which he continues to hold to date.
It became evident soon that the Rajasthan government had two heads, who did not quite see eye-to-eye. Pilot took a different stance from Gehlot and went on to disagree with his own government over issues such as the process to select a mayor in local body elections and deaths of children in a Kota hospital in 2020.
As ministers loyal to Gehlot blamed the previous BJP government for the poor state of the hospital, Pilot reminded them that after more than a year of coming to power, it did not serve any purpose to blame the previous regime.
The tussle between Gehlot and Pilot reached a boiling point in July 2020, when the latter took off with 18 of his loyalist MLAs and camped in Haryana and Delhi, resulting in a major political crisis for the Gehlot government. Pilot was subsequently removed from both his posts by the party leadership.
The political crisis resulted in a continuous series of attack and counter-attacks involving the two camps. Gehlot accused the Pilot group of colluding with the BJP to topple his government. The Pilot faction hit back with its own set of allegations.
After a shaky truce was brokered by the Congress high command, Pilot returned to Rajasthan, but very often the fissures would come to the fore.
Last month, in an interview to NDTV, Gehlot called Pilot a “gaddar (traitor)”. The Congress leadership has since mediated between them to ensure a truce again so that Rahul’s Yatra could pass through the state without running into any organisational rows.
With the Rajasthan leg of the Yatra coming to an end soon, it is anybody’s guess whether the truce will last. Loyalists of Pilot have continued to demand a “solution” to the leadership issue in the state before the December 2023 Assembly polls.
The long-running feud between Gehlot and Pilot has impacted the party organisation as well, with multiple posts of district and block Congress presidents along with office-bearers remaining vacant.
In July 2020, all the district and block Congress committees were dissolved by the party leadership in the wake of Pilot’s rebellion. Last year, the party finally appointed 13 DCC presidents, but most districts still do not have their chiefs.
Gehlot hopes that his government’s welfare schemes will help him sail through in the Assembly elections, even as several party legislators affiliated to Pilot continue to press for a leadership change.
“Our next budget will be dedicated to the youth, student, and children. The opposition couldn’t find any words to react after previous budgets. At times the opposition had to quietly leave the Assembly after budget. I still have one more budget left,” said Gehlot.
