Sachin Pilot vs Ashok Gehlot, Round 2 : Battle For Rajasthan Congress Narrative

Ashok Gehlot has muddied political waters in Rajasthan, again.

The Congress leader raised eyebrows this week with remarks about colleague Sachin Pilot and his version of the September 2022 showdown that did not allow a change of guard in the state.

Back in 2022 Gehlot was supposed to shift to Delhi to take over as chief of the Congress party and a new face - possibly Pilot - was supposed to take over his job in Rajasthan. That switch did not happen because over 100 MLAs refused to support the party high command's decision.

But the Congress leader stressed this week that the rebellion was not against the party's leadership decision but against the choice of Pilot as his successor.

While the Pilot camp has not reacted, sources have contested this version of events.

In fact, highly-placed sources in the Congress told NDTV the Gandhi family - the de facto decision-makers in the party - wanted very much to see Gehlot succeed Sonia Gandhi - then the Congress chief - and that such a switch obviously needed the Rajasthan leader's sign off too.

Sources said Gehlot's claim now - that party observers Mallikarjun Kharge (now the Congress chief) and Ajay Maken came suddenly and that MLAs supporting him did not defy the party - is 'mere sophistry'. The counter-argument is that Kharge and Maken were expressly sent by the Congress high command to oversee the smooth transition of power in the state.

And that's not all.

Those behind Sachin Pilot believe it was Ashok Gehlot who played foul by claiming a conspiracy that he could use as a reason to keep him in the state, in power, and away from the Congress chief's post. These Pilot camp sources want Gehlot to elaborate on this alleged conspiracy.

And some of those sources have also pointed out that if Gehlot's argument is that the 2022 rebellion was not against the high command, but against Pilot, the same logic could be applied to Pilot camp MLAs 'flight' to Manesar, i.e., they were against Gehlot as a leader.

And if Gehlot had led the Congress to victory in the 2023 election, despite the Manesar episode, the party could have made amends with Pilot and his supporters, including accommodating five of his loyalists as ministers. In fact, Pilot's MLAs went on to fight and win elections.

As many as 11 of the party's Rajasthan MPs are believed to be from his camp.

Gehlot's remarks also come amid talk of an organisational rejig in the state; current Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara completes his term soon and that has likely awakened Gehlot's supporters as they prep for another possible showdown with Pilot over this job.

All this means the narrative set by Gehlot, or at least his supporters, continues to roil the Congress' internal politics in the state, and materially reduces any chance of disrupting the BJP's already formidable election-winning machinery, especially in the northern states.

It does appear that both leaders - each with strong grassroots following in the state - seem to have squabbled against each other and brought the party to its knees in Rajasthan.

However, the Pilot camp asserts the ex-deputy chief minister has always maintained a dignified silence and left resolution of the issue to the party's central leadership. Pilot has been assigned senior responsibilities - as the party's General Secretary-in-charge for Chhattisgarh - and he actively campaigned for the recent Assam and Kerala elections, while also publicly praising the party's Rajasthan leadership, i.e., Dotasara and Tikaram Jully as Leader of the Opposition.

But Gehlot raking up this issue four years hence - alongside Pilot's decision to lead a group of MLAs to a resort in neighbouring BJP-ruled Haryana, an act that almost brought down the then-Congress government - suggests the veteran is intent on still dominating the state narrative.

And that is particularly interesting given the next election is less than three years away.

As an aside, the resolution that was proposed in 2022 - the one at the core of this latest spat - was not specifically in Pilot's favour. It was only a one-line note - in the Congress' usual tradition - in which party MLAs authorised the party high command to take a decision on leadership.

Now, if Gehlot's remarks were meant to settle old scores, they have instead highlighted an enduring reality within the Congress' Rajasthan unit. Nearly six years after the Manesar rebellion, and four years after the September 25 crisis, the contest between Gehlot and Pilot continues to shape its internal politics, its organisation and its future leadership debate.