Rajasthan: CM Gehlot wins trust vote

The Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan on Friday won a trust vote as expected, but amid speeches loaded with double entendres, sarcasm and underlying bitterness.

“When I came to the House and found that my seat had been changed (to near the opposition benches), I wondered why. When I sat there (pointing to the government benches), I felt safe. Now I am next to the opposition. Then I realised that I have been sent to the sarhad (border). That is because only the bravest and strongest warrior is sent to the border,” said Sachin Pilot, former deputy chief minister and state Congress chief who was stripped of both posts after he unfurled the banner of rebellion a month ago. On why the rebellion was shortlived, he said: “During this debate, many things will be said, much will be revealed. But whatever we had to say or do, my friends and I, we’ve got our cure. We consulted a doctor in Delhi and we are back now. We all stand united.”

His reference presumably was to the patch-up formula hammered out in Delhi via Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi who agreed to set up a committee to hear the grievances of the ‘rebels’, in itself a concession that there was some legitimacy to their complaints against Gehlot.

Pilot said he was ready to face the “fire” at the frontline. “We are ready and armed for the onslaught with our armour, our shield and our weapons,” he said to loud desk thumping.

When the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’S) Gulab Chand Kataria, the Leader of Opposition, said while targeting the Gehlot government that Pilot “was pushed out of the party even though he did such good work on NREGA”. Pilot interrupted: “What is our internal matter, leave that to us. Whether there is any hurt or not, leave that to us. You focus on the trust vote.”