Even as Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Rajasthan today (December 3), the running feud between state party leaders Ashok Gehlot (chief minister) and Sachin Pilot is a matter of concern for the Party, as the state goes to polls next year.
The party had to intervene through public statements as a new war of words broke out between the two leaders days before Rahul Gandhi entered the state. In an interview, Gehlot called Pilot a “traitor” (ghaddar) and accused him of trying to topple his government in 2020. Pilot responded by going on record to say that such “mud-slinging” would not help.
It is important for the Congress that the Yatra goes through Rajasthan in such a manner that the party does not come across as divided when Gandhi is walking through the first Congress-ruled state on his route. Adding to the concern are statements by Gujjar community leaders that if their demands for a separate job quota are not addressed, they will block the route of the Yatra. The state government has designated three ministers to talk to them and resolve the issue.
Disagreeing with the language used in the latest war of words between Gehlot and Pilot, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the party would take “tough decisions” in Rajasthan if needed and work out a compromise if needed. Underlining that the party needed both Gehlot and Pilot, he said that it would work out a solution but only the top leadership could fix a time frame for the same.
At the core of the infighting in the state is the question of leadership of the state Congress in 2023. Gehlot is the more experienced of the two and has the support of a very large chunk of Congress MLAs. Pilot on his part is younger and counts a handful of MLAs as his loyalists. However, ever since he served as the PCC president in Rajasthan, Pilot is believed to have been wanting to replace Gehlot as the face of the Congress in Rajasthan, something that an ageing Gehlot and his supporters are averse to.
For Gehlot, it is a battle for survival and getting a good deal for his followers. For Pilot, it has been a long wait but he has age on his side.
Rahul Gandhi made his first comment on the controversy during the Yatra, when asked about it at a press conference in Indore district. “I don’t want to get into who said what. Both these leaders are assets to the Congress party. But I want to guarantee one thing – that this won’t make any impact on the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Gandhi said.
In other words, the idea is that the Congress should appear as a single unit as the Yatra goes through Rajasthan, and that the leadership question can be addressed after that.
Two Congress insiders told me that the party was shortening the route of the Yatra in Rajasthan, and that it would now travel through the state for 11 days instead of 15. More significantly, it is now expected to skip those parts of the state – like Dausa – where the Gujjars, the caste to which Pilot belongs, are in significant numbers. The Yatra, the leaders claimed, will now go straight to Behror in Alwar district, a place that has a significant Yadav population, instead of Dausa. From Behror, it will move to Narnaul in Haryana, they added. However, a close supporter of Sachin Pilot said that he had no information about any change in the route of the Yatra in Rajasthan.
There is little doubt that the Gehlot-Pilot spat can cast a shadow on the Congress’ 2023 efforts at regaining Rajasthan, a state that is known to alternate between the BJP and Congress in assembly polls.
In this scenario, the party will hope to first ensure that no disunity is visible when Gandhi is travelling through the state. The statement of Ramesh that the party will take “tough decisions” if needed may be a hint that Gandhi should be seen as the face of a party that is united when he passes through the first Congress-ruled state in his journey.
Among the leadership options for the 2023 polls, one option before the party – making Gehlot the AICC chief and making Pilot the Chief Minister – ceases to exist after a rebellion by MLAs loyal to Gehlot, leading to the party putting its weight behind present party chief Mallikarjuna Kharge. The second option, which is somewhat likely, is to let Gehlot complete his term and bow out, with the party not projecting a candidate. The third, which one Congress leader said may be a distinctive possibility, may be to allow Gehlot to complete his term and make Pilot the face of the party in 2023. However, a defeat in such a context will make the blame come Pilot’s way. The last option is to think of a fresh CM face and assign alternative responsibilities to both the warring leaders. The last will be possible only if none of the two turns a rebel in the next one year.
“I will welcome Rahul ji the moment he enters Rajasthan. As for the leadership question, that is a call that the party top brass will take. After the statement of Rahul ji, I have nothing more to say,” Pilot told me in a telephonic conversation.
As of now, the Congress is looking at the passage of the Yatra through the state as top priority. As this piece was being written, KC Venugopal was about to meet members of a Congress committee of 40 members to chalk out plans for the Yatra’s Rajasthan leg.
The task of converting the Yatra into support for the Congress in the state constitutes a major challenge for the party.
--Vikas Pathak is a political commentator who teaches at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. The views expressed are personal.
Read his previous articles here
(Edited by : CH Unnikrishnan)
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