Congress Remains In A Fix, As Gehlot-Pilot Rift Lingers

As Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra reaches its final phase in the state of Rajasthan, the infamous rift between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot remains unsolved. Congress’ critics, referring to the padayatra,  have time and again highlighted the dispute saying that the Grand Old Party needs to ‘unify the party’ first and then think about ‘unifying the country’. 

Nevertheless, on Friday, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal broke the silence on the issue and said,  "everything will be resolved smoothly" and the party is very much united in the State. 

In an interview with PTI, Mr. Venugopal also exuded confidence that Congress would win the Rajasthan Assembly polls next year and return to power. 

Venugopal’s remarks come after a major row erupted last month following Mr. Gehlot's comments that Mr. Pilot is a 'gaddar' (traitor) and cannot replace him. The remarks drew a sharp response from Mr. Pilot who had said it was unbecoming of Mr. Gehlot's stature to use that kind of language and that such "mud-slinging" would not help at a time the focus should be on the yatra. 

"We will win definitely, our chances are very bright," Mr. Venugopal, who is participating in the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, said referring to the Rajasthan Assembly polls next year. 

The escalation of the Gehlot-Pilot rift just ahead of the entry of yatra into the desert State had put the party in a spot but Mr. Venugopal's visit to the State last week calmed tempers and in a show of unity, both Mr. Pilot and Mr. Gehlot posed for the cameras along with the AICC general secretary. 

Background of Gehlot-Pilot Rift 

To understand the faultlines that are fracturing the Rajasthan congress today, and the roots of the Gehlot-Pilot Rift, it is important to peek into the recent electoral dynamics of the state.  

Ashutosh Sharma, a political analyst based in Jaipur, tells Outlook that whenever Gehlot assumed the charge of a chief minister in the state, the anti-incumbency against his MLAs grew rapidly, and Congress slipped off the throne. In 1998, Gehlot became chief minister for the first time when Congress won 153 seats in the assembly elections. However, in 2003 polls, the Congress’ toll plummeted to just 53 paving the way for BJP’s Vasundhara Raje Scindia to assume the charge. In the 2008 elections, Congress emerged victorious again bagging 96 assembly seats,  and Gehlot assumed the charge of a chief minister for the second time. In 2013, after Gehlot’s term came to an end, Congress put up one of the worst shows in the history of Rajasthan elections as their seats shrank to a mere 21, catapulting Vasundhara Raje Scindia to power once again.  

Later, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Rajasthan Congress lost all 25 seats to BJP, a tally that the latter maintained in the 2019 parliamentary elections.  

After the 2013 debacle, the high command made Sachin Pilot the state party president, assigning him the uphill task of rejuvenating the electoral fortunes ahead of the 2018 assembly elections. “Sachin Pilot,” says Sharma, “played a major role in steering Congress to victory in 2018. However, Gehlot whose electoral performance had lost the sheen was once again made the Chief Minister, leaving Pilot aggrieved.”   

A source based in Jaipur tells Outlook that in 2018 Ashok Gehlot had assured the high command that if he was made the chief minister again, he would help them bag the Lok Sabha seats in 2019 that the grand old party had lost in 2014. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, all 25 Congressmen lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Even Ashok Gehlot’s son, Vaibhav Gehlot, who was contesting from the Jodhpur constituency, lost to BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat by a stupendous margin of around 2,69,000 votes.  

Ashutosh Sharma tells Outlook that although Gehlot’s government has been doing well in the domains of health and social security, the latter’s governance lacks lustre inviting a brewing anti-incumbency against his legislators shoving congress out of power at the end of his term.  

“It has become a pattern. And if Gehlot is a popular leader, where is the popular vote? Gehlot has never been able to sustain power for Congress and win elections on his own,” says Sharma.  

A source close to Sachin Pilot tells Outlook that after the 2019 Lok Sabha results were when Pilot, who was then the deputy to the chief minister Gehlot, aggressively started asking the high command to give him a chance. “He told the high command ‘we need to win elections, and I will do it for Congress’,” the source says, adding “however, the rifts between him and Gehlot kept widening as the latter sidelined him, and rendered him nearly powerless, ignoring his suggestions, recommendations, pleas, and even his MLAs and loyalist party workers.” However, he adds,  Gehlot’s blatant indifference towards Pilot and his cadres kept growing with time.   

The deepening disgruntlement with Gehlot led Pilot to stage a rebellion in 2020 when the latter decamped to Delhi, and then Manesar, along with 20 MLAs. After nearly one month, the peace between the two arch-rivals was brokered— some say by Priyanka Gandhi— and a promise of inducting some of the Pilot’s MLAs into the cabinet was made to him, including a long-held promise from the high command: a chance to Pilot of becoming the Chief Minister in near future. Although, some of the MLAs from the Pilots camp were inducted into the cabinet, a move that for time being deescalated the tensions between the two bandwagons, the promise of making him the chief minister remains unfulfilled to date. 

Talking about the yatra completing 100 days, Mr. Venugopal Friday said there is tremendous momentum for the foot march and people have been welcoming it everywhere. "The issues raised by this yatra are not political issues, they are issues concerning the people. The issue of unemployment, the entire youth of the country is disappointed, price rise is at its peak and the central government is misusing agencies to target people," Mr. Venugopal said. 

The BJP's divisive politics only for winning elections has created a big division in this country and at such a time the Congress is undertaking this massive yatra to unite people, he said. 

Asked if the yatra would yield electoral gains, Mr. Venugopal said this is not aimed at an electoral impact, but added that in the field, the yatra will definitely have an impact. 

"This yatra has electrified our entire cadre. Our workers are now charged. We are going for a massive follow-up programme from January 26 onwards from booth level upwards. This will certainly have an impact on the coming elections," he said. 

The yatra, which was launched on September 7 in Kanyakumari has traversed eight States—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and now, Rajasthan. It has seen participation from a cross-section of society. 

Besides participation from tinsel town celebrities, writers, military veterans, including former Navy chief admiral L. Ramdas, Opposition leaders such as Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray and the NCP's Supriya Sule, and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, have also joined the march at various points. 

(With inputs from PTI)