Ashok Gehlot And Sachin Pilot Archives - Lokmarg

Gehlot Is A Seasoned Leader, Pilot Is Ambitious But Immature

By LokMarg 24th December 2022

Asha Patel, a senior political observer based in Jaipur, discloses how a temporary truce was reached between CM Gehlot and Sachin Pilot

The volatile equation between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot saw a temporary truce while Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was passing through the state. It should be noted that this Yatra’s tenure was going to be the longest in Rajasthan. All the MLAs, leaders, and cadres of the Congress party were strictly advised not to create any kind of ruckus during the Yatra.

As for the Pilot and Gehlot tussle is concerned, it was a rare sight to see both of them flying in the same helicopter from Bundi to Jaipur airport and then proceeding to Delhi in a chartered plane. From there they went to Shimla to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister. As Jairam Ramesh said, it was not a photo-op but a show of actual unity. How did this happen?

Gehlot had called Pilot a ‘traitor’ in an interview with a news channel. It was before the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Rajasthan. Gehlot’s remarks were disapproved by the Gurjar community to which Pilot belongs. The community threatened to disrupt the yatra in the state unless their demands are met. One of their demands was to make Sachin Pilot the Chief Minister. Gehlot had remarked that Pilot can never become the Chief Minister and called him a ‘gaddar’.

The pilot is an immature leader as compared to Gehlot. What Gehlot has done in the last five years for the people of Rajasthan is marvelous. Many policies and programs started by the state government have had a positive effect on the grassroots. Gehlot is a seasoned politician who knows how to handle adversaries. Look at the recent episode at the start of the Bharat Jodo Yatra where he displayed his authority. The central leadership of Congress to knows the importance of Gehlot being at the helm of affairs.

On the other hand, Sachin Pilot knows very well that there is no use in becoming a Chief Minister for just one year. It is a political tradition in Rajasthan that no party repeats itself in the government. The pilot also knows that the next government will be led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. That is why he has been consoled and advised to remain calm. He will be fielded from Uttar Pradesh in 2024. Actually, he comes from Bulandshahar so it would be a natural choice for him.

So when Gehlot’s remark drew criticism from the Gurjar community, the party had to go for immediate troubleshooting in Rajasthan. Congress stood by its stand that both Gehlot and Pilot are assets for the party. Anyhow, the Gurjar community was assuaged. That is why both Pilot and Gehlot were present when Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Rajasthan setting aside their political differences.

The episode is now over with Gehlot’s second interview in which he clarified his stand referring to the ‘gaddar’ comment. He said, “Such incidents and accidents often happen in politics. Time fixes everything.’

So, Gehlot and Pilot’s episode has been very well fixed by the central leadership. Both have walked together with Rahul Gandhi in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. There is no point in discussing it after that joint appearance.

(The narrator is an independent editor-owner of Vanijya Setu and Garibon Ka Setu weekly)

As told to Abhishek Srivastava

CM Gehlot, Sachin Pilot Bury Hatchet: ‘We Stand United’

By LokMarg 29th November 2022

Displaying a show of unity in Rajasthan Congress, General Secretary KC Venugopal on Tuesday reiterated Rahul Gandhi’s statement describing both Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot as “assets to the party”, while trying to send a message that the party is supreme and the state leaders are united to win the 2023 Assembly elections.

As the rivals stood next to each other holding hands to present the optics days after Ashok Gehlot called Sachin Pilot a traitor, the party sought to send out a message of resolving the ongoing crisis.

“We are united. Here Ashok Ji and Sachin Pilot Ji have said that the Congress party in Rajasthan is united. Rahul Gandhi has clearly stated that both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot are assets to the party,” Venugopal said.

Sachin Pilot, whose alleged revolt had triggered the crisis in the state Congress, said that the state is all set to welcome the Bharat Jodo Yatra which will enter the state on December 5.

“Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul Gandhi will be welcomed with maximum enthusiasm and energy in Rajasthan. The Yatra will spend 12 days in the state. It will be a historic Yatra with the participation of all sections of people,” Pilot said.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the message of the top leadership in Congress goes to the grassroots prompting the leaders to work together.

“Rahul Gandhi said yesterday that Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot are assets to the party. It is a specialty of our party that when the message comes from the leader, it goes down till the bottom and we work together for the betterment of the party,” Gehlot said.

Acknowledging the challenge of the 2023 Assembly elections in Rajasthan, the Chief Minister said that it is essential for the party to win elections, adding that the DNA of Congress and the country is the same.

“We have the challenge of the 2023 Assembly elections in Rajasthan. It is essential for us to win the elections, it is for the country’s welfare. If Congress is strong, only then the future of the country will be strong because of the challenge that is before the country for which Indira Gandhi gave up her life, and Rajiv Gandhi was killed attempting to establish peace. Congress and the country have one DNA,” Gehlot said.

The remarks of the Congress General Secretary came during his visit to Rajasthan to review the Bharat Jodo Yatra preparedness.

According to the sources, Venugopal held a meeting of all the state leaders of the party in the State Congress Committee War Room in Jaipur.

“He instructed everyone to remain disciplined,” sources said.

The Chief Minister lauded Rahul Gandhi and Bharat Jodo Yatra and said that the country has accepted the former Congress president’s message during the march.

“The BJP is so worried that they are levelling allegations on the Yatra, and also putting pressure on the media. The way Rahul Gandhi has led the march and the message that he is giving, there is a new ray of hope in the country. The country has accepted the issues that Rahul Gandhi has raised. There can be surprising results in Gujarat,” he said.

The Congress has seen recurrent factionalism in the state with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and party leader Sachin Pilot at loggerheads over the issue of leadership in the state. (ANI)

Raje’s Role In Gehlot Govt Survival

By Anita Katyal 17th August 2020

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah took control of the government and the party, most Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have been reduced to pygmies. But recent developments in Rajasthan have shown that senior party leader Vasundhara Raje is no push-over and that she is unafraid to take on the Central leadership.

The two-time Rajasthan chief minister steadfastly refused to endorse the party’s decision to dislodge the Ashok Gehlot government, forcing the saffron camp to abandon this plan. As a result, the Gehlot sailed through a trust vote last week after the BJP-supported rebellion by disgruntled Congress leader Sachin Pilot failed to take-off because of Raje’s non-cooperation.

Raje proved that despite her electoral defeat two years ago and the party’s best efforts to marginalise her, the Central leadership can ill-afford to ignore her as she commands the loyalty of 50 of the 72 BJP legislators.

Moreover, Raje’s charisma and appeal put her on top of the list of vote catchers in Rajasthan where she remains a dominant force. Raje has the capacity to lead the BJP to a victory in the next election. But conversely, she can also play spoiler and give the party a tough time.

Irked by Raje’s obduracy and desperate to put her in place, the BJP’s Central leadership (read Amit Shah) proceeded to go ahead with its plan to overthrow the Congress government in Rajasthan without taking the former chief minister into confidence. The task of implementing these plans was entrusted to Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (a Shah favourite), Satish Poonia, president of the party’s Rajasthan unit, and BJP’s legislature party leader Gulab Chand Kataria.

The pride of place given to Shekhawat was a clear message to the party rank and file that he was the leadership’s chief ministerial candidate once the party succeeded in dethroning the Gehlot government.

ALSO READ: No Dearth Of Dynasts In BJP

But the BJP soon realised that it needed Raje on board but she refused to fall in line. On her part, the former chief minister had her reasons for thwarting the party’s plans. Not willing to settle for anything less than the top post, Raje was clearly angry with her bete noire Shekhawat’s projection as the future Rajasthan chief minister. Raje was obviously was not going to make it easy for anyone else to snatch this post from her. It was the same reason that she was unhappy over Pilot’s possible induction into the BJP as he has also set his eyes on the chief minister’s chair.

Though the BJP consistently denied that the revolt led by Sachin Pilot was an internal affair of the Congress, the saffron camp had been in touch with him for several months before he finally walked out with 19 loyal legislators to demand Gehlot’s removal. The rebels were spirited away to a resort in BJP-ruled Haryana. In fact, the “operation kamal”, designed on the same lines as similar successful exercises it executed in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

For the record, Pilot maintained that he had been humiliated by Gehlot for the past two years and that he was driven to take the extreme step of going public with his grievances after he was sent a notice by the police in connection with the BJP’s plan to “bribe” Congress legislators.

Responding in equal measure, Gehlot collected his loyalist MLAs and sequestered them in a hotel in Jaipur, making sure there was no contact between them and the Pilot camp or the BJP. Gehlot guarded his flock zealously, making sure that the numbers in the rebel camp did not touch the magic figure of 30, the required figure to bring down his government. The chief minister maintained he had the support of 100-plus legislators in the 200-member assembly and accused the BJP of using “money power” to destabilise his government.

ALSO READ: Cong In No Hurry To Get Its House In Order

Even as this drama continued for nearly a month, Raje maintained a studied silence. Her colleagues, Shekhawat, Poonia and Kataria, on the other hand, were never at a loss to offer their comments on the Congress crisis. It was only when her silence and absence became a talking point that Raje posted one wishy-washy tweet, saying the people of Rajasthan were suffering because of the continuing rift within the ruling Congress.

In a tweet posted on July 18, Raje said, “There is no point in trying to drag the BJP and the BJP leaders’ names through the mud. It is the interest of our people that must remain paramount.” This was meant essentially to dispel the public perception that she was helping Gehlot.

Raje was only spotted in Jaipur on August 14 when she attended the assembly session where Gehlot won the trust vote. She later told the media that she was unaware of the past month’s developments as she was observing shravan mass, the holy month of monsoon, and was busy with pujas at her Dholpur home. She had earlier skipped a party meeting, which had to be called off because of her absence.

She did surface briefly in Delhi on August 7 for a meeting with BJP president JP Nadda where she refused to get involved in the party’s efforts to bring down the Gehlot government. Instead she complained that she was being ignored and deliberately sidelined in Rajasthan. The recently reconstituted executive committee of the state unit has not accommodated her supporters while the state unit chief Poonia and opposition leader Kataria are known to be Raje baiters.

Unable to persuade her to fall in line with its plans and unwilling to risk alienating Raje, the BJP had no option but to call off “operation kamal” in Rajasthan. This was a major victory for Raje though it is early days to say what the future holds for her as the current BJP leadership is unlikely to forget her intransigence in a hurry.

Till then Raje can enjoy this victory as she has clearly won this round and is worthy of being declared the “man of the match”.