After Cong chief poll, focus shifts to CM Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot’s clash in Rajasthan

The controversy erupted after 82 Congress MLAs in Rajasthan failed to attend an official legislature party meeting called to pass a resolution authorising the Congress chief to appoint a successor to Gehlot, who was then preparing to run for the Congress presidential election, and instead attended a parallel meeting at Gehlot loyalist Shanti Dhariwal's Jaipur residence.

Image Credit: ANI

New Delhi: With the Congress having elected its new president, the focus is now expected to shift to Rajasthan which has been witnessing long-running differences between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot on who gets to call the shots. Significantly, both Gehlot and his former deputy Pilot separately met Mallikarjun Kharge after he was elected as the president of the Congress, getting 7,897 votes against his rival Shashi Tharoor's 1,072. The tensions between Gehlot and Pilot seem to be simmering with the former earlier this week, saying that there is no substitute for experience at any level. Gehlot suggested that young leaders should have patience as they would get their chances when the time comes.

Though Gehlot slammed leaders such as Jyotiraditya Scindia, R P N Singh and Jitin Parsada, who left the Congress to join the BJP, as "opportunists" and pointed out that all of them became Union ministers at a young age, many saw it as a veiled swipe at Pilot. The Rajasthan infighting had played out in full public glare last month when Gehlot was set to enter the fray in the Congress presidential poll.

The matter had come to a head after 82 Congress MLAs in Rajasthan did not attend an official legislature party meeting convened for passing a resolution authorising the Congress chief to appoint a successor to Gehlot, who was then about to contest the Congress presidential election and participated in a parallel meeting at Gehlot loyalist Shanti Dhariwal's residence in Jaipur. While Gehlot has long been known as a loyalist to the first family of the country's oldest party, his position as the Gandhis' confidant is said to have been dented by the developments last month. Pilot, who had rebelled against Gehlot's leadership in 2020, is seen as an agent of change, just like Tharoor, who many say put up a spirited fight for the top Congress post but had fallen short when it came to winning the 'loyalty' tag

श्री मल्लिकार्जुन खड़गे जी को अखिल भारतीय कांग्रेस कमेटी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष चुने जाने पर बधाई एवं शुभकामनाएं।

मुझे पूर्ण विश्वास है कि आपके नेतृत्व व मार्गदर्शन मे पार्टी कार्यकताओं को एक नई दिशा मिलेगी तथा सभी कांग्रेस की विचारधारा के प्रति समर्पित होकर कार्य करेंगे।@kharge pic.twitter.com/CDBSkIc0sg

— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) October 19, 2022

श्री मल्लिकार्जुन खड़गे जी को कांग्रेस पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष निर्वाचित होने पर दिल्ली स्थित उनके निवास पर मिलकर बधाई एवं शुभकामनाएं दी। pic.twitter.com/1tXgFbIyvq — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) October 19, 2022