Rajasthan will go to the polls this year and the Congress is walking on a double-edged sword as the party has been internally divided into two factions - one led by Sachin Pilot and the other led by current Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. While Pilot is said to be aiming for the top post, the question confronting Congress leadership is whether Gehlot will make way for Pilot. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who recently presented a populist budget to woo the public ahead of the polls, spoke on his retirement in a TV interview.


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In the interview, Gehlot made it clear that he is not going to retire from politics till his last breath. Gehlot said that he will keep working for Congress and will contest the assembly elections as well. He said that every worker of the party is weak without Congress. Indicating that he will be rooting for the chief minister's post once again, Gehlot said that the one who is the Chief Minister leads the election.


Gehlot said that he joined politics in his 20s and started working with NSUI and now has over 50 years of experience. he said that during this period, he never looked back and became thrice the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. He said that the party's high command must have thought before making him the chief minister. He said whether it was Indira Gandhi, or Rajiv Gandhi or now Sonia Gandhi, everyone gave him a chance. 


He exuded confidence that Congress will win the state elections once again and said that public sentiments are in the favour of Congress. 


It may be recalled that Pilot has been vocal in speaking about issues troubling the state government. In the recent past, he has openly expressed his displeasure over the handling of the paper leak case by CM Gehlot. Now, since Gehlot has made his intentions clear that he won't be opting out of the race for next chief minister, all eyes will be on Pilot and the party high command.