NEW DELHI: After Rajasthan’s Lok Sabha elections, Gehlot, Pilot, and Dotasra lobby for state president’s post, with Dotasra favoured due to Jat support.
With the completion of the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan in the first two phases, Congress’ top leaders in the state, such as former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot and and state party president, Govind Singh Dotasra, are said to be actively lobbying to influence the decision of the Congress high command on the appointment of the next state unit president after the results of the general elections are declared.
The three leaders, according to sources, are trying to reach out to top leaders close to the high command to to secure the state president’s post. Yet, there is an understanding among party leaders that it will be difficult to replace the current state unit president Dotasra (a legislator from Laxmangarh assembly constituency), as he belongs to the Jat community. Jats are believed to have tilted towards the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.
A Congress leader in Rajasthan said, “Now that elections are over, high command is free to decide a new leader if they want to make changes in Rajasthan leadership. But Dotasra can manage (through lobbying) to continue to be at the helm. But right now when the next assembly elections in the state is still a long way to go, the focus would be to choose someone who can strengthen the cadre and make it a force to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the next assembly elections.”
Pilot also has an upper hand in determining the direction of the Congress takes in Rajasthan, according to party sources because, firstly, Pilot is an able leader and secondly, he is also popular among the masses which gives him an edge to negotiate with the Congress’ central leadership.
However a leader close to Gehlot said, “Ashok Gehlot is still in the game. He has been a chief minister and has some power over Congress’s legislators in the state and he got to decide the tickets of several leaders in which he repeated some candidates close to him.
Despite losing, Congress put up a good fight during his leadership.Above all, he has already taken command of all the legislative seats in Amethi Lok Sabha segment. If he proves himself worthy of in this job, he will continue to be an influential person in the party.”
Another political analyst said, “Sachin Pilot is the future of Rajasthan Congress. He is also close to the Gandhis, so any kind of lobbying will not matter. But Gehlot is also actively trying to be relevant. He has friends who have high positions in the party.”