Jaipur, (Samajweekly) Is Congress’ house in Rajasthan back in order or will there be some change coming after Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra culminates?
These are some of the questions being asked amongst the political circles in the state ever since Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot travelled together on the same plane on Sunday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of new Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in Himachal Pradesh.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that all the leaders of the party are “united” and travelling together is not a sham.
Gehlot and Pilot reached the Jaipur airport in the same helicopter from Bundi’s Kapren and from there they went to Delhi by a charter plane and then reached Shimla together.
It is noteworthy that the tussle between Gehlot and Pilot has been going on for a long time. When asked whether the two leaders travelling together is a show of their unity, Ramesh said in the Laban village of Bundi district, “We are one. A new atmosphere has been created through the Bharat Jodo Yatra. We are one as members of one organisation.”
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had said in Madhya Pradesh that both these leaders were ‘assets’ for the Congress. “Gehlot is an experienced, very senior leader, Sachin Pilot is young, popular. The organisation needs both,” he had said.
Gehlot’s recent scathing remarks against Pilot had fuelled the controversy due to which the party had intervened. In an interview, Gehlot had said that Pilot was a “traitor” who cannot replace him as the chief minister, as he rebelled against the Congress in 2020 and tried to topple the state government. Reverting to his remark, Pilot said that such “mud-slinging” would not help.
Meanwhile,Pilot was garnering accolades for Himachal victory as he was an observer for the state polls. Also, Gehlot’s performance was under question for he was an observer in Gujarat polls where the party showed one of the poorest performances.
Also, the BJP had filed a PIL in the High Court on the resignations of around 92 MLAs whose hearing is scheduled in the last week of December. These MLAs submitted their resignation to the Speaker C.P. Joshi on September 25 after the Congress’ high command had ordered a CLP meeting at the Chief Minister’s Residence.
So all eyes are now set on the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra to see if there will be any change in the leadership or else the state governance goes smooth till next Assembly polls scheduled in December next year.
