Ambitious veterans threaten to derail Congress’ party in Rajasthan and MP

A file image of senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot in an election campaign | Facebook

While Ashok Gehlot has thrown his hat into the ring for the chief ministership in Rajasthan, MP too is witnessing clashes between various groups.

New Delhi: The Congress is struggling to keep its house in order in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, with party veterans’ ambitions for power threatening to scuttle its bid to oust the BJP governments in the assembly elections scheduled for November-December.

The forthcoming elections, also in Chhattisgarh, are crucial for the Congress — not just because they would set the momentum for the Lok Sabha polls, but also because they would have a bearing on the party’s bargaining power and leverage vis-à-vis prospective alliance partners.

The situation in Rajasthan

Back in March, at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Jhunjhunu, a slogan from a section of the gathering rent the air — “Modi tujhse vair nahin, Vasundhara teri khair nahin” (No grudge against you, Modi, but Vasundhara beware). Five months later, the BJP looks as vulnerable, while chief minister Vasundhara Raje embarks on her 40-day-long Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra Saturday to try to beat anti-incumbency, a feat not achieved by any of her predecessors in 25 years.

Yet, the mood in the BJP camp is upbeat as divisions in the Congress come to the fore. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has thrown his hat in the ring for another term, though the party high command wants him to play a role at the central level as AICC general secretary (organisation). State Congress president Sachin Pilot has been “working hard” on the ground, said a Congress functionary in Delhi, adding that the party leadership wants to nurture and promote next generation of leaders in the state.

Gehlot and his loyalists seem to have a different idea though. Many of them, including former union minister Lalchand Kataria, have publicly aired their demand for Gehlot to be projected as the CM candidate. The former CM has maintained that the party high command is aware of the people’s choice and would take a call on the CM candidate at an appropriate time. He has served the party for 45 years and was chief minister for 10 years, he says subtly to questions about the next CM.

The young Pilot is likely to have a tough time dealing with ambitious party veterans in the coming weeks, but he sought to downplay differences. He told ThePrint: “I am lucky to have the support and cooperation of all senior leaders.”

Tussle on in MP too

The situation is no better in Madhya Pradesh. Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently appointed Kamal Nath state Congress chief, virtually projecting him as the chief ministerial candidate. The party officially maintains that it is contesting the elections under a “collective leadership” and the MLAs would elect the CM post-elections. This strategy is meant to keep all groups interested and avoid infighting, but it’s probably too much to ask from Madhya Pradesh Congressmen.

A group of party workers roughed up AICC general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Deepak Babaria, early this week when he named only Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia as contenders for the chief minister’s post, and skirted a query about whether the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Ajay Singh, son of the late union minister Arjun Singh, was also in contention. Ajay Singh was, of course, quick to dissociate himself from those party workers and also condemned their act.

The incident was only an indicator of how groupism in the Congress could play out in the coming elections. Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh had earlier supported Kamal Nath’s candidature as the party’s chief ministerial face. As coordination committee chief, he has been trying to bring all factions together. Rahul Gandhi, in the meantime, has chosen to snub Singh, divesting him of his AICC general secretary’s post and dropping him from the recently reconstituted Congress Working Committee.

Congress leaders are now keeping their fingers crossed about Singh’s future moves. But Singh told ThePrint that he welcomed whatever his leader, Gandhi, decided and was determined to bring the party back to power after a gap of 15 years.