Jaipur: In what appears to be a growing sense of anxiety in the Gehlot camp, three MLAs who were part of the contingent that skipped the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting took a U-turn Tuesday, saying that the party high command is supreme and that they shall accept whatever decision it takes in choosing the next chief minister of Rajasthan.
Skipping the scheduled CLP meeting Sunday and participating in a separate one at the residence of Gehlot-loyalist Shanti Dhariwal was seen as a show of strength by the followers of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, which the Congress top brass termed as an act of “indiscipline”.
“Whatever decision the high command takes, whoever is projected as the new CM, I am in favour of it. I am not in favour of the resignation strategy. I respect the high command’s decision,” Khetri MLA Jeetendra Singh told the media.
Singh and 90-odd MLAs had called on Dhariwal, even as the Congress high command’s emissaries Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge waited for them at the chief minister’s residence for the CLP meeting.
The CLP meeting was convened to get the Legislature Party to pass a one-line resolution authorising interim party president Sonia Gandhi to appoint Gehlot’s successor as the Rajasthan chief minister. This was expected to pave the way for Gehlot detractor Sachin Pilot taking over as the chief minister.
“The ongoing political situation is unfortunate for the Congress party. Every person has the right to express opinions. But MLAs must also accept the decision of the party’s high command. Whatever the high command decides, I shall accept it. Others should accept it too,” said Tijara MLA Sandip Yadav, who is one of the six former BSP MLAs who merged with the Congress in 2019.
“After hearing Ajay Maken sahab’s comments, I changed my mind. I am fortunate that Sonia Gandhi accepted me as an ally. I shall stand with the Congress high command’s decision,” said Khushveer Singh, an Independent MLA from Pali.
The trio claimed that they were concerned about the potential outcome of the political crisis and its adverse effects on the Congress.
According to at least two senior Congress leaders who spoke with ThePrint, there is a growing sense of “anxiety” in the Gehlot camp because MLAs can now see the dynamics of the ongoing crisis changing from a fight between Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot to one with the Gandhis.
“If Ashok Gehlot quits as the CM and later also faces defeat in the race to the party’s top post next month, then MLAs who are currently in Gehlot’s camp can face trouble. There are high chances that they will always be seen as rebels within the party and that can affect their personal ambitions,” said one of the two senior leaders.
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Political crisis far from over
Gehlot is expected to quit the chief minister’s position if he contests the Congress presidential poll, as the party has a “one-man one-post” policy. On the other hand, his loyalists seem to be concerned about the Congress high command being keen on handing over the chief minister’s chair to Sachin Pilot, who had triggered a rebellion against the Gehlot government in 2020.
On Sunday, some 30 Congress MLAs and those backing the Congress reached for the CLP meeting scheduled at Gehlot’s residence, but it did not take place as around 90 Congress and Independent MLAs convened a separate meeting at Dhariwal’s residence.
In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress has 108 MLAs while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition, has 71.
While Gehlot Sunday said he has held constitutional posts for 40 years and the new generation should get a chance now, virtually admitting an imminent change of guard, his supporters are evidently not letting him go.
On late-Sunday night, at least 90 Congress MLAs submitted resignations to Speaker C. P. Joshi, who is also believed to be a Gehlot-loyalist. The resignations, however, are symbolic at best because they did not follow the prescribed format, party sources told ThePrint.
Dhariwal and others from the Gehlot camp also came up with a set of conditions which they conveyed to Maken and Kharge.
First, a decision on the selection of chief minister should be taken after the Congress presidential election scheduled on 17 October. Second, the chief minister should be from among those MLAs who stood with the government during the 2020 political crisis and not from the “Pilot camp”. Third, the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) observers should hold meetings in groups instead of one-to-one as sought by the high command.
Maken had Monday severely criticised the Gehlot camp for pushing for a conditional resolution, calling it “conflict of interest” and saying that the act of calling a parallel meeting while a CLP meeting was already scheduled as “prima facie indiscipline”.
Later, Dhariwal launched a frontal attack on Maken, alleging that he was talking to party MLAs in a partisan manner and canvassing for Pilot. Congress’s chief whip in the Rajasthan Assembly Mahesh Joshi, who is considered to be a Gehlot loyalist, said the party MLAs have no objection to whoever is made the chief minister, but the final decision of the high-command should be agreeable to them.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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