Congress should rein in Pilot

There appears to be something drastically wrong with how the Congress continues to function with over ambitious leaders, making unnecessary statements at the wrong time. Sachin Pilot’s needless attack on the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, earlier in the week shows how impatient he is to dislodge his senior adversary in the party, without realising that his utterances can prove to be counter-productive.
Referring to some pleasant words which the Prime Minister had for Gehlot during a function where they shared the stage, Pilot tried to insinuate that the praise was indicative of developments that were likely to follow. He said that Ghulam Nabi Azad had similarly been applauded by Narendra Modi in Parliament and he has ended up forming his own party.
Sachin should have realised that such an irresponsible statement should not have been made when the Congress seems to be gaining ground, because his observations were diverting the attention from the positive dimensions of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and could also have an impact on the forthcoming Assembly elections in both Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
Modi is a very astute and perceptive politician and his saying good things about Gehlot could also be both tactical and deliberate in order to create confusion in the Congress ranks. However, when he stated that Gehlot was amongst the senior most Chief Ministers in the country, it was factual.
Incidentally, Gehlot is also the overall in-charge of the Gujarat elections and therefore any attack on him by a junior colleague should be not taken lightly by the high command. He is politically very well entrenched and knows how to deal with uncalled for barbs. Political analysts make the mistake of comparing the Rajasthan situation with Punjab last year and Gehlot with Amarinder Singh.
It should be clearly understood that unlike the Captain, Gehlot is an out and out Congress organisation man, who has been with the party since his NSUI days and therefore knows the rudiments of power play. He has very wisely chosen not to react to Sachin’s statement on the ground that the central leadership had advised leaders not to speak publicly against each other. However, this does not mean that he would sit quietly if Pilot goes beyond the Lakshmanrekha.
There has been speculation in Congress circles that Gehlot could be replaced by Pilot, particularly after K.C. Venugopal had publicly stated that the decision regarding the Chief Minister would be taken by the high command within two or three days. This was nearly a month or so back and if Gehlot has been continuing as the Chief Minister, it is because the top leaders believe that a status quo was important for the stability of state politics.
This is where Sachin is not reading the signals emanating from the top correctly. Political grapevine suggests that Sachin has the backing of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and presuming this was true, why would she like to rock the boat of her party when her brother is on a Yatra, and Congress is evidently making gains in Himachal and Gujarat.
Should the Congress not be concentrating on consolidating its position instead of weakening itself by a display of dissent. Sachin’s insinuation that Gehlot was mixed up with the BJP is completely inaccurate, since if someone had indeed tried to dislodge the Rajasthan government during the failed Operation Lotus in 2020, it was Sachin himself.
He was the one who took some MLAs along with him and enjoyed the hospitality of the BJP as also its government in Haryana. It is another matter that he could not muster the numbers and thus beat a hasty retreat by making up with the Congress and expressing his deep regret. Someone like Gehlot knows which side his bread is buttered and shall never leave the Congress just for the sake of it.
He has also been a witness to how Captain Amarinder Singh’s image has been dwarfed by the manner in which he was inducted in the BJP and how after that he is maintaining a low profile. Gehlot has been in politics long enough to step aside from traps.
Sachin is a promising and young leader and should wait for his turn. In the complex politics of the state, his becoming the Chief Minister is never going to be easy; the caste equations are not in his favour, and he has treaded on too many toes too soon.
For those who believe that Gehlot had lost his goodwill after MLAs close to him had declined to issue a one-line authorization empowering the then Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, should know that the entire episode is a forgotten chapter.
The high command had never ever declared Sachin to be Gehlot’s replacement if he was to be elected as the Congress president at that point of time. News channels were fed stories which were attributed to unknown sources and an attempt was made to misrepresent the matter completely. A perception was sought to be created that Gehlot had decided to challenge Sonia Gandhi, which never was the case.
He immediately came to 10 Janpath to clear the air and publicly expressed regret for not being able to get the one-line resolution passed. It is true that after that he was not considered for the position of the Congress president, which eventually went to Mallikarjun Kharge.
Nevertheless, he continues to be the Chief Minister on a turf he is very familiar with. Between us.