Will Sachin Pilot Be The Next Chief Minister of Rajasthan?
Have you heard the famous saying – “Opportunity knocks at the door but only once”? This is why it becomes imperative to seize the opportunity as and when it comes knocking at your doorstep. It seems that Congress’ Young Turk Sachin Pilot is lucky enough to get yet another opportunity to become the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
However, if he fails this time, then the only option he has is to take hibernation from active politics and seek refuge in the serene valleys of Himalaya.
Gehlot’s Delhi flight opens Power Corridor in Rajasthan
Interestingly, for the first time in two decades, a non-Gandhi politician has a chance to become the President of the grand old party. The party has issued notification for the election of the Congress President which is scheduled to take place on 17th of October.
The nomination process to this farce of an election will begin from 24th of September. As per information, so far, the fight for the post of puppeteer of Congress’ High command is between Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and an incumbent Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.
Also Read: Sonia Gandhi’s masterplan to retain Rajasthan and control Congress party with a Gehlot remote
This candidature by Rajasthan Chief Minister has caused a ripple effect in the state politics. Both Gehlot and Sachin Pilot camp want to thrust their claim, in case a change of guard happens in the state. However, this seems highly unlikely, at this moment in time.
Reportedly, Ashok Gehlot seems adamant to cling onto both the seats of state CM and Congress President, in case he wins the internal party election.
Notably, with its chaotic decision making, hypocritical stands and statements on several issues, Congress has become synonymous with chaos and confusion.
Congress’ key decision maker, Rahul Gandhi has been pushing for one person, one post, which is contrary to Ashok Gehlot’s greed where he wants to retain both the powerful posts in Central as well as state leadership.
Also Read: A ready list of communal violence that took place under Ashok Gehlot
In response to queries on “One person, one post”, Rahul Gandhi said, “We have made a commitment in Udaipur, I expect that the commitment will be maintained”.
However, Rahul Gandhi was soon contradicted by his own party colleagues. After a meeting with interim President Sonia Gandhi, senior leader KC Venugopal said, “It will be applicable depending on who contests and wins.”
Similarly, high command loyalist Gehlot said, “One person can remain a minister and also be elected Congress president. I will do anything that benefits the party, one post, two posts or three posts, I won’t back down”.
Thorns in the political journey for Sachin Pilot
First of all, his closeness with party high command goes in favour of Ashok Gehlot. During the time of crisis, when everyone was rooting for Sachin Pilot as the favourite choice for Chief Minister post, Gehlot proved his political prowess. He arm-twisted the entire high command to accept his proposals and suggestions.
This time as well, there is high chance that he might convince the party to accept any one of his two suggestions – either he remains Rajasthan CM as well as Congress President or his loyalist is accepted at the helm of affairs in Rajasthan.
Also Read: From “Chattis Kaum” to the leader of the Gujjar community: The shrinking base of Sachin Pilot
In both these scenarios, Sachin Pilot will be the sour loser. Assuming a scenario in which both the sides have to prove their majority for Rajasthan CM, Gehlot camp edges ahead with the numbers.
Before going to Delhi, incumbent Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot hosted party MLAs at his residence. This was a clear demonstration of strength that the numbers are in his favour and the party shouldn’t try its luck on betting the chips on Sachin Pilot.
Sachin Pilot’s last two public rebellions have made the party high command vary of his growing ambition and desperation. Furthermore, after the last failed rebellion, Ashok Gehlot has cut his camp down to size.
Pilot camp has lost all the steam it had during the other rebellions and the numbers have come down substantially courtesy of Gehlot camp’s strong arm tactics.
Will Sachin Pilot Be The Next Chief Minister of Rajasthan?
With numbers in the Gehlot camp, Gandhi parivar will not push its luck to back Sachin Pilot as the new Chief Minister as he has become an ostracised politician within the party.
There is a strong community tussle behind the closed doors in this fight for power. Sachin Pilot hails from Gujjar community which is not entirely a committed voter base of Congress.
BJP has a strong sway in this community. Further, the Meena community is a committed voter base for the Congress and it wouldn’t take it for granted.
After Pilot’s last unsuccessful rebellion in 2020, Congress party stripped him of his political posts. He was removed from both Deputy CM’s post as well as Rajasthan Pradesh President. The new state President Govind Singh Dotasra hails from the Gehlot camp and has completely wiped out Pilot’s hold over the state’s organisational structure.
Moreover, the Congress may come up with a Punjan formula. Amid the internal tussle between Captain Amrinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, Congress played its trump card by making a dalit, the first CM of the state. It blunted the claims of both sides and indirectly appointed its loyalist at the helm in Punjab.
What is done once, can it be bettered second time?
Sachin Pilot hails from a strong political background. His father Rajesh Pilot was a Union Minister during the Congress regime. His mother Rama Pilot was also a notable face in politics and an ex-MP from the Congress party. Currently, he is also a captain in the Territorial Army.
After the humiliating defeat of Congress in 2013, it was Sachin Pilot who single-handedly brought the party back to power in the next assembly election. Since then, he has been restricted by the glass ceiling meant for all non-Gandhis within the party.
In 2018, he sufficed on becoming the deputy to Ashok Gehlot. After that, both traded barbs openly. In 2019 Lok Sabha election, Congress was routed out from the state and BJP swept all the 25 seats. For the loss of his son, Vaibhav Gehlot, Chief Minister Gehlot accused Sachin Pilot. Both were indulged in public spat and levelling accusations against each other.
In 2020, the fight escalated to such an extent that Sachin Pilot threatened to break away from the party. He camped in Delhi with 18 MLAs. However, he succumbed in the end and had to go low-profile after his public humiliation at the hands of Ashok Gehlot and his camp.
Although his back is to the wall and numbers don’t seem to be on his side, such an opportunity – vacancy for CM post is once in a blue moon situation.
If he wants to fulfil his ambition, this is the only chance to defeat all odds stacked against him, otherwise the Gehlot camp will not stop at him going low-profile, he would be side-lined to such an extent that he will have to take off from politics and spend the rest of his time wondering where he went wrong and how he failed to capitalise on his moment.
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