Gehlot’s stature grows after Congress’ win in RS polls

New Delhi: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has emerged stronger after Congress pulled off victory in three of the four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan on Friday. With his political clout and stature growing further, Gehlot will be taking all the decisions without any pulls and pressures. After all, it is Gehlot’s hard work and political prowess that helped the Congress bag all the three seats it was eyeing.
What is clear is that CM Gehlot will play a key role in all the decisions related to the strategy preparation and selection of candidates for the 2023 Assembly elections. CM Gehlot has yet again proved that he is the “Chanakya” of politics. There is no pressure on Gehlot now and he will act freely. In fact, over three years of his stint witnessed Gehlot being under pressure of various kinds. Some Congress leaders were continuously involved in the campaign to dislodge Gehlot. The faction of rebel leaders used the media to spread rumours every other day, saying that crisis is looming large over Gehlot.
But the CM worked silently not only to save his government, but also to maintain a sound rapport with his MLAs and ministers. Some political postings were made. However, adversaries questioned what they called delay in political appointments. But that was the only way to handle the internal bickering. Certainly, it was a gigantic challenge to keep the flock together until the voting in the Rajya Sabha polls. Slight carelessness could have given Gehlot’s adversaries a chance to spoil the plan. While facing a tough challenge two years ago, Gehlot had sailed through when his government was under existential threat. During the Rajya Sabha polls, the rivals did not have even an inkling of the fact that Gehlot would not only manage to keep all the legislators together, but also dent the BJP’s flock.
Meanwhile, the BJP suspended its Dholpur MLA Shobharani Kushwah for cross-voting in favour of a Congress candidate during the Rajya Sabha polls. But questions will be raised on the internal politics of the BJP whose infighting is no secret now. The BJP high command has been working hard for a long time to ensure that there is proper coordination between former CM Vasundhara Raje’s camp and Rajasthan state unit leaders. But faction fighting has been coming to the fore from time to time. Though it is not easy to make a dent in BJP’s votes, Gehlot has managed to do it and proved that everything is possible if he is leading the fight. CM Gehlot placated his adversaries in his own style. He always stood by the Gandhi family during the crisis. When the “leadership” question was raised after five-state defeats of the Congress, Gehlot defended the Gandhi family, stressing that only they will be leading the party. He also silenced the dissenters during the Udaipur brainstorming. The two messages that the Udaipur Nav Sankalp Shivir sent out were that there is no challenge to the Gandhis and that Gehlot is such a leader who is acceptable to all. After this, the situation changed as no questions were raised over the leadership of the Gandhi family. Adversaries of Gehlot realized that they cannot succeed in politics by opposing the CM. As a result, the Congress looked united during the RS polls. Gehlot’s “magic” was writ large over independents and MLAs of other parties. So, Congress nominees Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari sailed through. The BJP-backed candidate Subhash Chandra conceded defeat even before the final result.
Now, Gehlot is likely to make some surprising changes in his cabinet. He could make some political postings to reward the leaders who stood by the party all along. He will now focus on how to repeat the government in next assembly elections.
His pro-people decisions are a signal that the CM would spare no effort to retain power in the next elections. Interestingly, there has been no resentment against Gehlot over the last three years. There of course are some complaints against ministers and MLAs. He may take action on the basis of that as the MLAs cannot now resort to any pressure tactic.