Ashok Gehlot.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: He won the battles against his party’s central leaders and managed to sideline his younger bete noir till now, but Ashok Gehlot could not repeat his ‘jadu’ (magic) with the adventurous exercise of rewriting Rajasthan’s history of voting out incumbent government.
Will the outgoing Rajasthan Chief Minister be able to retain his prominence in the party, as he has drowned to the depth of the Gandhi family’s ire for engineering a rebellion by his supporters to deny Sachin Pilot Chief Ministership and stalling his elevation to retain the chair of power, is the question now.
To his credit, Gehlot did not allow his party to plunge to the depths in Rajasthan when it came to seats and managed some respectable numbers but the question is whether this defeat could start the downfall of the 72-year-old veteran.
For Gehlot, the biggest challenge will be to keep his flock together with him and not allow Pilot to poach them. An overwhelming number of new and re-elected MLAs are Gehlot loyalists but without power and changing dynamics within the party, some of them, if not several, would think about the option of changing teams.
Also, he would be wary of what is on the central leadership’s mind, as it has not forgotten the September 2022 episode.
Neither in 2020 during his failed coup nor in 2022 when there were discussions about Gehlot becoming Congress president, Pilot had managed to command the support of the majority of MLAs but post this election, he could wean away some. Earlier too, the central leadership had indicated to him that he needs to get numbers on his side to claim the top post.
Known as ‘jadugar’ (magician) in political circles, Gehlot cannot be written off soon but the results could diminish his prospects in the future.
Gehlot has always considered Rajasthan as his ‘karma bhoomi’ and was uncomfortable being in Delhi. When he was General Secretary (Organisation), he returned to the state to become the Chief Minister in 2018 dashing the hopes of Pilot who was the state party chief then.
He was also not keen to shift to Delhi as Congress president last year and wanted to retain Chief Ministership. His supporters sabotaged a Legislature Party meeting called to pave the way for Pilot’s ascension as Chief Minister, igniting the ire of the Gandhi family and the party’s central leadership.
However, as Kharge took the initiative, he and Pilot agreed on peace and did not create trouble during the campaign. During the candidate selection, the uneasiness between Gehlot and the Gandhis became evident though he managed to get his way on candidate selection.
The leadership also sent a message to Gehlot by delaying the announcement of the candidature of his close loyalist Shanti Dhariwal and denying tickets to two others, Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore. All three had a role in sabotaging the September 2022 Legislature Party meeting.