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Rajasthan crisis: Gehlot denies hand in legislators’ rebellion
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday met Congress observer Mallikarjun Kharge and apologised for the events that plunged the party into disarray a day earlier.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday met party observer Mallikarjun Kharge and apologised for the events that plunged the party into disarray a day earlier, with legislators loyal to the former threatening to bring the government down unless he gets to pick his successor, people familiar with the matter said.
A Congress leader aware of the developments said Gehlot met Kharge, who was appointed as a central observer to seek feedback from MLAs on who should replace the chief minister, before the latter’s departure for New Delhi and apologised for Sunday night’s events when a planned Congress Legislative Party meting summoned by the CM had to be called off after the lawmakers chose not to attent it. Instead, they met at a minister’s house, decided that Gehlot should be allowed to name his successor, then went to the speaker’s residence and submitted their resignations.
Gehlot reportedly told Kharge that the meeting of the rebel MLAs should not have happened and also denied that he had anything to do with it, the leader said, seeking anonymity.
“Kharge, however, was categorical in saying that such a revolt could not have been possible without his consent,” the leader added.
92 Congress MLAs, considered close to Gehlot, met at the residence of state’s parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal in a show of strength and threatened to resign from the legislative party. Multiple legislators said they want the new chief minister to be from the 102 legislators that supported Gehlot when former deputy CM Sachin Pilot rebelled against him in 2020. It is widely believed that the Congress high command assured Pilot that he would be made the CM after Gehlot.
The legislators also decided to oppose the one-line resolution that was likely to be adopted at a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting, authorising the party president to pick the new chief minister.
Besides Dhariwal, state minister Mahesh Joshi and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas met Congress in-charge for state Ajay Maken and Kharge at Gehlot’s residence to convey the message of the MLAs loyal to him. The CLP meet was eventually called off.
Gehlot has not yet decided on the date to file his nomination for the party election on October 17, a leader close to him said. He will have to resign as chief minister to contest the election as per the Congress’ one-man-one-post rule. Gehlot had earlier said that this principle applied only for nominated and not elected posts.
The decision of MLAs in Gehlot camp to resign if their demand is not met was “spontaneous”, a leader close to the chief minister claimed . Pilot had been calling them for the past fortnight, claiming that the party high command has decided to make him the next chief minister, the leader added, not wishing to be named.
The leader said the rebel MLAs feared they would be “left out in the cold” if Pilot made it to the top post – a claim denied by Pilot faction.
“The MLAs’ wanted to know how he (Pilot) could make such a claim without their views being taken and the chief minister not being consulted,” a second leader close to Gehlot said.
The Gehlot camp also targeted Maken for claiming the CLP was called on Gehlot’s “request”. “I would like to say again that the CLP meeting was called on request of the chief minister,” Maken told reporters in Delhi on Monday after he briefed Congress president Sonia Gandhi about the rebellion.
Refuting his claim, urban development minister Shanti Dhariwal said the CLP was called by the party high command as part of a conspiracy to remove Gehlot as chief minister.
“The agenda of the CLP was to remove the chief minister as part of a conspiracy. The chief minister was informed about the meeting on Saturday and it was being held on the day he was going to Jaisalmer,” Dhariwal told reporters on Monday evening.
Dhariwal also alleged that Maken was talking to party MLAs in a partisan manner and canvassing for Pilot.
“My allegation against the general secretary and state in-charge (Maken) is that he was talking to the MLAs here in a partisan manner. For many days there were continuous reports that he was campaigning in favour of Sachin Pilot,” he said.
“He used to ask MLAs to join him (Pilot) and we have proof of this,” he added.
Khachariyawas took note of Maken’s statement that the party may initiate action against the rebel MLAs as their actions “amounted to indiscipline”.
“If the MLAs gather at the Dhariwal’s residence and say something, they haven’t committed any crime,” Khachariyawas said, alleging that there was an attempt to topple the Gehlot government.
Although Khachariyawas said they will abide by the party high command’s decision on the chief minister, they added that they expect the top leadership to do “justice” with those who stood with the party when Pilot revolted in 2020.
“We stood with the government when some leaders joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to topple the Congress government. I hope the high command will look at that also,” Khachariyawas said.
On Pilot, he said, “He is a young leader, like a brother and I have no animosity with him. But, the MLAs don’t want him to become the chief minister; 92 MLAs are against him.”
