After nearly a month-long political turmoil, Gehlot on Wednesday said whatever misunderstanding occurred within the party in the last one month should be forgiven and forgotten in the interest of the country, state, people and in the interest of democracy.

As per the reports, the Congress crisis in Rajasthan ended after the intervention of the party top leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who met rebel leader Sachin Pilot earlier this week.

Last month, Pilot along with 18 other Congress MLAs rebelled against Gehlot triggering a political crisis in the state. He was then removed as deputy chief minister and the party’s Rajasthan unit chief.

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Nearly 102 MLAs are supporting him and could be shifted.

This month, Gehlot was faced with a surprising revolt, led by his former deputy Sachin Pilot. The young Turk took nearly 20 of his loyalists camping in Haryana announcing that Gehlot had lost the majority in the 200-member strong Assembly.

Congress tried ironing differences with Pilot, but he remained stern and was eventually sacked.

Gehlot repeatedly claimed that Pilot is working with BJP to topple his government. Reiterating his allegations, Gehlot said that the rate of MLA has gone up since the Assembly session was announced.

“After the assembly session was announced last night, the rates of horse trading have increased. Earlier the first installment was of Rs 10 crore and second was of Rs 15 crore. Now it has become unlimited and all know who is doing horse-trading,” Mr Gehlot told reporters.

After prolonged tensions with the CM, Governor Kalraj Mishra agreed to convene the session from August 14.Reportedly, Gehlot could hold a trust vote on August 17 and want his flock to stay together till that happens.

Interestingly, Pilot’s camp would also attend the session.

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Earlier, Governor Kalraj Mishra had said that the Assembly would not be allowed to be convened in Rajasthan in the face of the COVID-19 threat. Last week, the MLAs along with Ashok Gehlot gathered at the governor’s residence but he was not ready to change his stand. The Congress had alleged that the BJP was playing political drama with the support of the governor. Finally, on July 27 the governor changed his mind. Permission was granted on the condition that the assembly could be convened only if the government gave 21 days’ notice.

It was at this juncture that Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi withdrew his petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s move against the dissident MLAs. The speaker, who was steadfast on his stand that he would disqualify dissident MLAs, was seen withdrawing from legal action for the time being.

Weeks after the start of Sachin Pilot’s revolt against Ashok Gehlot, there is no sign of an immediate end to the drama, let alone new dramatic developments unfolding from day to day. Even though the Congress has so far rejected the legal move in the Supreme Court, they are facing another legal battle. The BJP has filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court against the merger of six BSP MLAs in the Congress 10 months ago.

The political drama has been further complicated by the fact that the BSP leadership has given a whip to its six MLAs asking them to vote against the government if there is a no-confidence motion in the Assembly. Gehlot claims the support of 103 MLAs, including the six BSP MLAs. Without their support, the government is sure to fall.

There is now complete uncertainty as to whether the Congress-led government, which came to power with sufficient popular support, will be able to stay in power in Rajasthan. The governor, who had secretly vowed to give Gehlot a chance to prove his majority, has now unexpectedly changed his mind. The Congress will have to work doubly hard to secure a vote in favour of Gehlot in the Assembly.

The Congress must drudge to overcome the BJP’s tactics of seizing power even if it does not win elections. With its money power, the BJP is the strongest force in the post-election horse-trading.

With the BJP’s insurmountable party machine and the immense ‘money’ it possesses, J.P. Nadda does the magic of a footballer who scores goals even in the most impossible situations with Amit Shah in the shadows. It remains to be seen whether this footwork will be repeated in Rajasthan.

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The order came after the team Sachin filed a writ petition challenging the disqualification notices. The matter was taken up by the bench on July 17. The team argued that the party whip applies only when the assembly is in seat.

The Supreme Court today rejected the request of Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi to defer the disqualification proceedings till July 24. The supreme court further said that the “voice of dissent” in a democracy cannot be suppressed.

The bench, comprising Justices BR Gavai and Krishna Murari, said Joshi’s plea raises important questions and requires prolonged hearing. “We are not restraining the High Court from passing the order but it will be subject to the outcome of the petition (of Speaker) before the Supreme Court,” the bench said. The next hearing will be on July 27.

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“Rajasthan is the only state where no demand was raised to change the PCC president in seven years. We knew that nothing is happening here. We knew he is “nikamma” (worthless) and “nakara” (idle), still we did not question this in the interest of the party,” said Gehlot

He said no demand was ever put forth to change the PCC president, a post which Pilot held for the last seven years in Rajasthan.

He said Sachin plotted with BJP government to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan. Gehlot added that nobody ever thought a person of his stature will do such thing.

“He (Sachin Pilot) was conspiring from past six months with BJP’s support. Nobody believed me when I used to say that conspiracy is going on to topple government. Nobody knew that a person with such innocent face will do such thing. I’m not here to sell vegetables, I am CM,” said Gehlot.

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But had he given a thought to why leaders, both young and old, have been continuously leaving the Congress over the years, that too people who had been with it during the worst of times? 

Rahul’s statement came even as Jyothiradithya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan has been at loggerheads with the Congress leadership.

Jyothiradithya Scindia was one who was trotting around with upper caste credentials as a feather in his cap and that is more in line with the saffron party’s stand. It was no surprise that he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. But the case of Sachin Pilot is different. 

He is the son of Rajesh Pilot who never rejected the secular credentials of the Congress. Even Sachin’s family life reflects this secular mentality. The daughter of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah Sarah is his wife. He would have to seek the permission of his wife’s family before joining the BJP, which had removed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and brought measures and controls that were against the democratic principles of this country. It was against such a leader that the Congress had initiated action alleging that there is evidence that Sachin was keen on joining hands with the BJP.

A majority of leaders had quit the Congress during the time of Indira Gandhi. But that outflow was on the grounds of idealism. Many of the leaders had quit the party questioning the totalitarian leadership of Indira Gandhi. At the same time, it is strange that leaders, one after the other, are leaving the Congress to join a BJP that has a totalitarian leadership symbolised in Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. It is indeed very surprising that these leaders, because of their hunger for power, are attracted like a magnet to the totalitarian tendencies of these two leaders.

How would a Congress with no popular support survive even if the quitting of young Turks wouldn’t affect the party? What has leaders like Rahul Gandhi done to revive people’s support for the party?

Rahul Gandhi, who was issuing statements, posting photographs and giving interviews when crores of labourers were suffering during the lockdown, failed to utilise the opportunity to inject new blood into the veins of the party to revive it. A party can gain popular support only if it is able to get down to the grassroots level and make people feel that it is with them during their worst of times. 

Under a leadership that has no clue on how to revive the efficiency of the party by tapping into popular disaffection with the ruling dispensation, it is not surprising that it is going from bad to worse and leaders are thinning out. If this outflow of leaders continues, the Congress would soon be reduced to an endangered species.

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The disciplinary action was taken after Sachin Pilot revolted against the party and skipped the Congress legislature meeting despite repeated attempts by its top leaders to convince him to end his dispute with chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

“We have given Sachin Pilot many opportunities. He has been an MP and MoS and a state party president. I am sad that Sachin Pilot and some of his colleagues have fallen for a trap laid by the BJP. This is unacceptable,” Said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

Slamming Mr Pilot ,Rajastha CM Ashok Ghelot said to mediaperson, ” There is nothing in Sachin Pilot’s hands, it is the BJP which is running the show. BJP has arranged that resort and they are managing everything. The same team which worked in Madhya Pradesh is at work here.”

Meanwhile, in his first response to the public after being sacked, Sachin tweeted that ‘truth can be disturbed not defeated’. He also removed Congress mention from his Twitter account.

सत्य को परेशान किया जा सकता है पराजित नहीं।

— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020

Ashok Gehlot and the Congress unit in Rajasthan were less pacific towards Sachin Pilot and called for strict disciplinary action against anyone who indulges in activities against the Congress party.

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Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot is camping at a luxury hotel near Delhi where the Congress MLAs are presently lodging. His official group released a video last night showing at least 20 MLAs supporting him, hours after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held a meeting at his residence in Jaipur. He insisted that Gehlot had lost his majority and his claim of 106 MLAs was greatly exaggerated. In the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, 101 is the majority mark.

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At the moment Congress sources are viewing this with some amount of concern. According to the sources, this whole incident is brewing since the lockdown began. This is the third attempt by Sachin Pilot to stage coup and become Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The Congress dismissed the claim of Pilot that he has the support of 30 Congress MLAs and said only Congress government will survive the crisis.

At the same time, Congress says the doors for Sachin Pilot are still open and they have been in talks with him in the past two days regarding the present political crisis in Rajasthan.

Meanwhile, the BJP has so far said there are no conditions to Mr Pilot joining the party.

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