Cong bowls a googly: Both Pilot, Gehlot to contest Rajasthan polls

NEWDELHI: With the instructions of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and on Gehlotji’s request, I have decided to contest the assembly elections

SACHIN PILOT, Cong

Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and state Congress president Sachin Pilot will contest the December 7 assembly elections in Rajasthan, it was announced on Wednesday.

Gehlot announced the party decision at a news conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi. The move maintains suspense on who would be the Congress party’s chief ministerial candidate, as both Gehlot and Pilot are strong contenders.

On whether the chief ministerial candidate would be declared ahead of the elections, Gehlot said the tradition in the Congress is to announce the name after the polls in consultation with the MLAs.

“Never ever after Independence in Rajasthan, no Congress leader was named as the chief ministerial candidate before the polls,” he said. However, Gehlot admitted there have been exceptions to this in other states.

The usual practice in the Congress is to keep the leadership issue open as there usually are several claimants to the top post in each state. After the results, the MLAs authorise the Congress high command to take a decision.

There have been some notable exceptions to this practice, however. For instance, it named Captain Amarinder Singh as its chief ministerial face in Punjab, Virbhadra Singh in Himachal Pradesh, Tarun Gogoi in Assam, Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand, Siddaramaiah in Karnataka and Sheila Dikshit in Uttar Pradesh.

The party is fancying its chances in Rajasthan, and is banking on anti-incumbency against chief minister Vasundhara Raje.

“With the instructions of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and on Gehlotji’s request, I have decided to contest the assembly elections,” Pilot told reporters. “We all will together ensure a massive victory for the Congress in the upcoming polls.”

While 67-year-old Gehlot, a two-time chief minister of Rajasthan, is expected to seek re-nomination from Sardarpura seat in Jodhpur, a decision on Pilot’s constituency will be taken soon.

Pilot, 41, a two-time Lok Sabha member, will contest his first assembly elections. He had represented Dausa in the Lok Sabha in 2004 and then Ajmer in 2009.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Sanwarlal Jat defeated him from Ajmer.

The Congress is likely to release its first list of candidates for Rajasthan soon.