'We All Know What Happened With Azad': Sachin Pilot's Fresh Dig at Ashok Gehlot Over 'PM Modi's Praise'; Rajasthan CM Responds

The political drama over a possible leadership change in Rajasthan has ignited once again after senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot, on Wednesday, demanded action against party MLAs who revolted to support Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot recently and said that he expects new party chief Kharge to do something about it soon.

Meanwhile, Gehlot responded by saying that “everybody should follow discipline”. “They should not make such remarks. KC Venugopal has asked everybody in the party to not make any such remarks. We want that everybody should follow discipline,” he said.

Pilot was referring to the defiance shown by Gehlot loyalists in September when the former Deputy CM was expected to finally get the top job in the state after Gehlot was asked to become Congress president.

Noting that Gehlot had apologised to the then party chief Sonia Gandhi for the action of his loyalists, Pilot said, “Observers took the situation in Rajasthan seriously. The party has said it was indiscipline. Three MLAs got notices. There should now be action.”

Pilot further said that the time had come to end the atmosphere of indiscipline in Rajasthan, and added, “Congress is an old party with the same rules for everyone, no matter how senior. I’m sure the new president, Mallikarjun Kharge, will take action.”

He said only 13 months were left for the assembly elections in Rajasthan and whatever decisions are to be taken, like the CLP meeting, the AICC would take them very soon.

Terming PM Modi’s praise for Rajasthan CM Gehlot “dilchasp” (interesting) , Pilot said, “it [the praise] should not be taken lightly. Everyone knows what happened after the Prime Minister praised Ghulam Nabi Azad.”

It is to be noted that Azad left the party recently.

Gehlot Fires Back

After Pilot’s open attack, the Chief Minister took a veiled dig at him and said political leaders should “avoid rhetoric.”

Without taking any names, Gehlot said, “Our goal is to again form the government in the state. Leaders should avoid getting into rhetoric.”

Political Turmoil In Rajasthan

The latest political crisis in the state unfolded with the grand old party’s move to hold a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting at the chief minister’s residence on September 25. This meeting was seen as an exercise to change the chief minister–under the party’s ‘one person-one post’ rule– prior to the election to choose the party president for which Gehlot was the front runner.

The party had sent AICC General Secretary in-charge for Rajasthan Ajay Maken and the then leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who later contested and won the poll, as observers to hold the CLP meeting.

However, hours before the meeting, MLAs loyal to Gehlot held a parallel meeting at Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal’s residence against what they believed was a get-together to make Sachin Pilot the new chief minister.

The MLAs skipped the CLP meeting and submitted their resignation to Speaker CP Joshi at his house. They demanded that the party choose someone from the 102 MLAs who supported Gehlot during the political crisis in July 2020 as his replacement if he were to leave the post and become the party president.

The 2020 rebellion against Gehlot was led by Pilot, then the deputy chief minister, with 18 MLAs.

The CLP meeting did not take place. Four days later, Gehlot met party president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and apologised to her for not being able to get a one-line resolution passed in the meeting. He took moral responsibility for the crisis and announced that he will not contest the presidential election.

After his return from Delhi, Gehlot has however indicated through his style of functioning that he will continue as the chief minister, although an official decision is awaited.

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