Jaipur: From a rival-turned-ally to long-term loyalists, a core group of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s supporters is believed to have orchestrated the so-called ‘revolt’ of 90 Congress MLAs against the party’s high command.
The political drama began Sunday during a meeting that was supposedly meant to begin the process of passing the baton of Rajasthan CM from Gehlot to Sachin Pilot since the former was expected to contest the party’s presidential election next month.
As the high command’s emissaries, Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge, waited for 108 Rajasthan Congress MLAs, and those backing the party, to show up at Gehlot’s residence in Jaipur for a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, most were absent. Instead, the MLAs went to a ‘parallel meeting’ with Gehlot’s confidant and cabinet minister Shanti Dhariwal. Shortly thereafter, 90 MLAs offered their resignations to assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi.
That same night, senior Congress leaders and Gehlot loyalists Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi, and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas demanded that if the Congress passed a resolution to anoint a successor to Gehlot, it should only be done after the party’s presidential election. Secondly, they also wanted the party to announce that neither Sachin Pilot nor anyone from his band of supporters who tried to rebel against Gehlot in 2020 should be made CM.
This was seen as a show of strength by Gehlot — to display that his supporters in the party far outnumbered Pilot’s. While Gehlot has told the high command’s emissaries that he had no role in the MLAs skipping the Sunday meeting, no one in the party is buying it, multiple leaders in Delhi and Jaipur have told ThePrint.
They claim that Joshi, Dhariwal, and a few other Gehlot loyalists have been playing a “pro-active” role in mobilising the support of MLAs for the chief minister.
Here are six leaders who are said to be the main string-pullers for Team Gehlot.
Also read: Gehlot speaks to Sonia, seeks time for meeting but Congress abuzz with new names for prez polls
C.P. Joshi: Rival-turned-ally
C.P. Joshi’s equation with Gehlot has seen a 360-degree turnaround — from loyalist to foe and then back to becoming a staunch supporter.
A law graduate with a PhD in psychology, Joshi became an MLA for the first time in 1980 and developed a good relationship with Gehlot over time.
He was inducted as a cabinet minister in the first Gehlot-government formed in 1998, but things started changing in 2003 when the BJP wrested power from the Congress. Joshi was appointed as president of the state Congress and emerged as a challenger to Gehlot, largely by consolidating power by virtue of his position in the party, said sources. This is believed to have led to a soured equation with Gehlot.
In 2008, Joshi, who was close to Rahul Gandhi, was seen as the frontrunner for the chief minister’s chair. But he lost the assembly election by one vote and was not given the top post.
Joshi became an MP in 2009 and a cabinet minister in the Manmohan Singh government, but withdrew from active politics for a few years after losing the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
It was in 2018, when Joshi was elected as an MLA once again, that he entered a truce with Gehlot.
Joshi being appointed as the Speaker of the Rajasthan assembly was seen as a sign of Gehlot’s trust in him.
By then, Joshi had also carved out a space for himself in the state cricket administration — defeating former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi in the presidential race in 2009 and his son Ruchir Modi in 2017. In 2019, Joshi helped Gehlot’s son become president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association.
During the 2020 political crisis, Joshi played a role in saving Gehlot’s government by issuing disqualification notices to rebel MLAs, which is believed to have brought the two leaders closer to each other.
Shanti Dhariwal: Problem-solver
Often described as one of Gehlot’s “most trusted” men, 79-year-old Shanti Dhariwal, a lawyer by training, holds numerous portfolios in the Rajasthan cabinet, including parliamentary affairs, law, and local self-government, urban development & housing.
A three-time MLA and one-time Lok Sabha MP from Kota district, Dhariwal’s proximity with Gehlot has helped him remain in the top ranks of the party hierarchy.
He is believed to act as Gehlot’s adviser, especially when it comes to issues concerning local bodies and civic agencies. Within the state party ranks he is widely credited with ensuring that the Congress holds at least one civic body in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Kota (where the municipal corporations were bifurcated on 2020).
This, according to a senior Congress functionary in the state, has left Gehlot “tremendously impressed”.
Dhariwal also played an important role in saving Gehlot’s government in 2020, reportedly communicating to the high command that loyalists rather than rebels should be rewarded.
Pratap Singh Khachariyawas: ‘Crowd-puller’
Congress leaders describe two-time MLA Khachariyawas as a “highly ambitious” politician who has been loyal to many in different phases of his political career — including Sachin Pilot.
Currently it is Gehlot, in whose cabinet he was given the berths of transport and soldiers’ welfare in 2018.
In Gehlot’s close circles, he is considered a crowd-puller, and often entrusted with ensuring large gatherings in events attended by the CM and those close to him, said a Congress source.
The nephew of former vice-president of India Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Khachariyawas was a member of the BJP at one point and in 2002 became the president of its youth wing.
However, in 2004, he quit the BJP and joined the Congress. This, a party source told ThePrint, was because of his “differences” with the BJP’s commitment towards reservation for the economically backward among the higher castes.
In his public speeches, Khachariyawas has often invoked the politics of caste and lineage. For instance, he has said at several events that his family line goes back to Lord Rama’s son Kush. In 2017, he had reportedly demanded a ban on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie Padmavati (which was eventually titled Padmavat), citing distortion of history. Khachariyawas himself is a Rajput — a dominant caste in Rajasthan.
Sanyam Lodha: A common ‘enemy’
An independent MLA in the Rajasthan Assembly, 53-year-old Lodha is a political adviser to Gehlot with roots in the Congress.
According to party sources, Congress functionaries in the district and block levels are appointed in consultation with Lodha, and he acts as Gehlot’s eyes and ears in this regard.
The three-time MLA from Sirohi constituency has another quality that might endear him to Gehlot — a common adversary in Pilot.
While Lodha was elected from Sirohi in 1998 and 2003 with a Congress ticket, it was Pilot who was said to have refused him a party ticket in 2018, forcing the veteran leader to contest as an independent candidate.
However, Lodha defeated both the Congress candidate and sitting BJP minister Otaram Dewasi — who headed the first cow welfare ministry in Rajasthan — in that election.
His influence also makes him an important asset for Gehlot, said a senior Congress leader, adding: “Lodha is not one political leader. He has direct influence over at least 10-12 independent MLAs who back the current Gehlot government. He is the leader. And that is why the CM keeps him close.”
Lodha has been one of the most vocal supporters of Gehlot and has even challenged the “one man, one post” policy of the Congress. He recently said the CM should be allowed to hold on to his post even if he becomes the Congress president.
On Sunday, Lodha attended the meeting at Dhariwal’s residence and later told reporters that if anyone other than Gehlot was appointed CM, independent candidates would withdraw their support to the Congress.
Mahesh Joshi: ‘Personal intelligence officer’
Mahesh Joshi is currently the chief whip of the Congress in Rajasthan. The 68-year-old has been a Lok Sabha MP and elected MLA twice, but what he is best known for is his “organisation-building skills”, Congress leaders said.
Often called an “energetic leader” even by political opponents, he is an old Gehlot loyalist and monitors most of the grassroot level political activities in the state. He reports directly to the CM. Some within the Congress also refer to him jokingly as Gehlot’s “personal intelligence officer” for matters within the party.
He also enjoys a fair measure of popularity in his constituency of Hawa Mahal in Jaipur.
“His supporters often get over-excited when it comes to wishing him on his birthday. One can see the entire area filled with posters,” said a local Congress leader who did not wish to be identified.
“In Jaipur, one can call him (Joshi) a local mass leader,” the functionary added.
Govind Singh Dotasra: The ‘strategist’
Fifty-eight-year-old Govind Singh Dotasra is a three-time MLA who has been serving as president of the Rajasthan Congress Committee since 2020, when Sachin Pilot was sacked from the post.
Prior to being given this post, he served in Gehlot’s cabinet as a junior minister and given charge of primary and secondary education and tourism departments.
When he was an education minister, Gehlot gave him a free hand in revising school textbooks. One of his controversial moves during this time was to direct that the prefix “Veer” be removed from RSS ideologue V.D. Savarkar’s name in social science textbooks.
According to party sources, Gehlot values Dotasra not just or his “loyalty” but for his skills in dealing with the state’s bureaucracy and media strategy alike.
A leader who has risen in the ranks from a gram pradhan (village head) to state party president, he is vocal about issues pertaining to farmers and marginalised communities.
Dotasra, according to several of his party colleagues, is also considered a prominent leader of the Jat community.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
Also read: ‘Congress rebel’ tag, danger to personal ambitions — what’s keeping Gehlot camp on edge