THE WAR OF WORDS AND DEEDS
After the brief enforced truce of the days when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was passing through the desert state, the Rajasthan Congress is back to form—if anything, the war drums are louder than before, with former deputy CM Sachin Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot taking fairly unvarnished jibes at each other in public.
In fact, very public. The Pilot camp took out five big rallies across the state—four billed as kisan sammelans, while the last was an inaugural function at Jaipur’s Maharaja College—between January 16 and 20 where he was barely short of direct attacks as he let loose jibes on Gehlot for, among other things, not acting on corruption charges against his predecessor Vasundhara Raje. On the repeated question paper leaks in recruitment exams during this government’s tenure, Pilot wondered if a “magician” had anything to do with it—a less-than-subtle allusion to the CM’s old family skill (his father was a practising magician). The former deputy CM was also peeved by Gehlot’s use of derogatory epithets such as “nikamma” (useless) and “gaddar” (traitor) for him. Gehlot, in fact, loses no opportunity to stress on the last descriptor after Pilot’s failed coup attempt in 2020—this time, he was seen on video saying “a big Corona entered our party”.
Pilot’s meetings have been thoughtfully set up, going beyond his Gujjar constituency and covering different castes such as Rajputs, Jats, Dalits, tribals and the urban youth. Venues like Parbatsar in Marwar region’s Nagaur district and even the Jat-dominated Jhunjhunu in the northeast, bordering Haryana, saw massive to appreciable crowds, enough to demonstrate his influence despite not being part of the government for the past three years (there have been more people at Pilot’s rallies than what the opposition BJP has been able to manage at its Jan Aakrosh rallies). There are fears that his outspokenness may actually end up stoking anti-incumbency ahead of the assembly election due at the end of the year. Alternative view: the high command’s silence indicates it may be letting Pilot target Gehlot to keep angry Congress voters from drifting away.
Pilot strategically timed the rallies ahead of Gehlot’s budget, which is likely on February 10, and Priyanka Gandhi’s Jaipur visit on January 26 to lead a rally as part of the party’s ‘Haath se Haath Jodo’ campaign. By present reckoning, Pilot’s chances of seeing his aspirations to chief ministership bearing fruit are not particularly robust, especially after party MLAs revolted and thwarted the high command’s plans to move Gehlot out as party president last September. His only hope is that, unlike 2018, he gets a big say in ticket distribution. But for that, he has to keep his slender flock of MLAs together, more so after Gehlot’s
“A big Corona entered our party”
purported assurances to the high command that he would back winning candidates even if they are his critics. Meanwhile, Pilot never loses a chance to publicly drum in the point that it was he who had led the Congress to 100 seats (out of a total 200) in the 2018 win.
An accusation that has followed Pilot since the 2020 revolt, one that he has consistently rejected, is that he is in contact with the BJP. His attack on ex-CM Raje is perhaps a counter to this, but some analysts feel it has other objectives too. For one, it puts Gehlot in the dock for not acting on the bribe allegations against Raje and her alleged coterie and, in fact, rewarding some of the accused officials; second, Pilot is targeting Raje as he feels she did not back him during the revolt; and third, conversely, that he gets to be in the good
“I feel anguished at the damage his revolt caused” ASHOK GEHLOT Chief Minister, Rajasthan PILOT’S MEETINGS HAVE BEEN THOUGHTFULLY SET UP, GOING BEYOND HIS NARROW GUJJAR SOCIAL BASE
books of the anti-Raje lobby in the BJP, in the state and at the Centre. Even if one discounts Gehlot’s allegations against Pilot, it’s true that the saffron party’s legal moves in the tussle between the two have helped the latter. In 2020, it was the lawyers known to be close to the BJP who challenged Speaker C.P. Joshi’s notice to Pilot amid his revolt on why his membership and that of his cohort MLAs should not be terminated for boycotting the Congress legislature party meeting. Now, it’s BJP deputy leader of the opposition Rajendra Rathore who has gone to the Rajasthan High Court to challenge the Speaker’s delay in deciding on the resignation letters of 91 MLAs dating from the Gehlot camp’s September revolt. State BJP leaders also keep backing Pilot publicly, and keep inviting him to join their party.
“Pilot’s personality does enthuse voters but we do not want him to get sucked into Gehlot’s ploy of getting him to quit the Congress. He has a long way to go,” says a veteran leader close to Pilot. Sources say the Rajasthan Congress in-charge, former Punjab deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, is at his wit’s end. He reportedly asked once, ‘Tell me, how can we win with Gehlot and Pilot around?” The CM has been accompanying Randhawa on his tours to judge the popular response to his policies, such as universal health coverage. The initial assessment is that anti-incumbency is low though people are angry with some MLAs, says a Gehlot aide.
Party insiders say Gehlot has responded to the high command over Pilot’s accusations. “Pilot’s revolt has adversely affected governance. Officials keep wondering if my government will last and those who helped save our government want favours in return. I feel anguished at the damage his revolt has caused,” the CM told reporters recently He firmly believes he will be leading the party in the election. What he needs now is a great last budget to bolster his case. As for Pilot, perhaps he could work out a strategy that doesn’t rely on outright dissent. If the Congress loses, both leaders will have a lot to answer for. ■
“So no one’s guilty for the exam paper leak. How did they leak from a locked vault? Was it some magician’s trick?”
SACHIN PILOT Former Dy CM, Rajasthan