Congress Rajasthan Government In Dilemma Over Internal Disputes

Come, let us talk about the political "game of thrones" in Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot or Ashok Gehlot, who is greedy for power and who is right in this case? Will the government in Rajasthan be able to stay put or will it fall? Is there an attempt to poach MLAs here? The story is not as simple as it sounds, come let us know.

 

Ever since the Congress won the state elections in 2018, it had been a subject of discussion. who should be the Chief Minister Sachin Pilot or Ashok Gehlot? Most of the young people in the country were in favour of Sachin Pilot because he is a youth leader but Congress chose Ashok Gehlot. They might have had their own internal reasons. Ashok Gehlot was elder and a more experienced politician in this case. A similar situation happened in Madhya Pradesh; between Scindia and Kamal Nath and Congress made Kamal Nath the Chief Minister.

Source: TheQuint

 

 

There was a division between the old guard and the young brigade in the Congress right from the start. Especially, in Rajasthan, it is said that MLAs more in favour of Sachin Pilot were divided from the MLAs that favoured Ashok Gehlot more. There was distrust amongst them and both the factions did not trust one another. This distrust surfaced when the Congress Party had won the elections. Back then, Rahul Gandhi had also got both of them photographed together with him to display that the difference between both of them had been resolved and they were both working together. But two years down, today, it has become clear that those differences had never been resolved. They had in fact, been escalating and have reached this point today.

 

 

Rajasthan Crisis

 

This controversy started on July 11th when the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot alleged that BJP was offering their MLAs a price of 25 crore per MLA to switch parties and cause the government to fall. This does not sound too surprising because similar allegations were heard in the case of both Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. When Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister in Karnataka, he alleged that BJP was offering their MLAs a price of 20 crore per MLA so that their government would fall. As proof, he had released audio tapes of it. And the same thing happened some months later; around 16-17 MLAs switched parties. Their government fell and the BJP then formed the government in Karnataka.

Source: News18

 

 

A similar thing happened in Madhya Pradesh. When Kamal Nath alleged that BJP was offering 20-30 crore to MLAs to switch parties, the exact thing happened some months later; some MLAs switched parties. Their government fell and the BJP then formed the government. So, it would not come off as a surprise if the BJP is trying to do the same thing in this case. But it would be an incomplete story if viewed from only the BJP angle because the internal politics within Congress also plays a huge role in this case.

 

On 11th July, the Special Operations Group of Rajasthan arrested two people with links to the BJP on the charge of bribing the Congress politicians. On the same day, notices were sent to Sachin Pilot and other MLAs by the Rajasthan police to record their statements regarding this charge. It is said that due to this reason and some other reasons in the past which will be talked about later in article Sachin Pilot got miffed and he went to Haryana along with 10-15 of the MLAs that supported him. He made these MLAs stay in a hotel. After that, speculations arose that Sachin Pilot would meet with the BJP president, JP Nadda and he would join the BJP very soon. But that did not happen. In fact, Sachin Pilot said that he has no interest in joining the BJP.

 

On 12th July, Ashok Gehlot convened a party meeting to show solidarity and to show the number of MLAs that support him. He said that there are around 109 MLAs that stand in support of him. The Sachin Pilot camp said that there are around 30 MLAs that are in his support and they can cause the government to fall.

 

 

Maths behind the Crisis

 

Let me tell you the math here, there are 200 seats in total in Rajasthan, 101 is the majority marked needed by any party to come to power. In 2018, Congress had won 107 seats, while BJP had won 72, 13 out of the reaming seats were won by independents. Congress claims that these independents candidates were in favour of the Congress. And there is one party; RLP which is an ally of BJP with 3 seats. Like I said, 101 is the majority mark. Now, how many MLAs are in support of Sachin Pilot and how many independent MLAs and the remaining party MLAs support the Ashok Gehlot government will determine whether the government will continue or not. I will explain the math and the calculation later. For now, let us move on with our story.

 

Source: SakshiTv

 

 

After that, Rajasthan Congress convened a legislature meeting for its MLAs on 13th July and warned of a disciplinary action against the MLAs that did not show up. Sachin Pilot and the MLAs that support him did not turn up for the meeting. After that, the Congress Party called for another meeting Sachin Pilot and the MLAs that support him did not turn up for this meeting too. Sachin Pilot was stripped off the post of Deputy Minister for repeatedly ignoring the meeting summons. He was also removed from the post of President for the Congress Party for Rajasthan. Along with that, the MLAs that supported him, who were ministers in the Rajasthan government, were also sacked from the post of ministers. After that, the Speaker of Rajasthan served a notice to around 19 MLAs of the Congress who were in support of Sachin Pilot and asked them why they should not be disqualified as they were not responding to party summons. This notice was sent under the anti defection law, which can lead to the disqualification of these MLAs. Subsequently, Sachin Pilot came out in the public and said that he had no interest in joining the BJP. Then, Sachin Pilot and his supporting MLAs challenged this notice in the High Court that it would be wrong to disqualify them as they have done nothing wrong.

 

 

Who wants what?

 

The fact of the matter is that Sachin Pilot and the MLAs that support him do not want to be disqualified. Why don't they want to be disqualified? Because the rule says that if an MLA gets disqualified, then they cannot become a minister in the new government until they win an election again. Say the Congress government in Rajasthan falls and BJP forms the government then; the MLAs that have been disqualified today want to become ministers in the new government. But they cannot become a minister in the new government until they contest an election and win again. But at the same time, they can do so if the MLAs resign on their own. The same happened in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The MLAs that were allegedly "bought over" by the BJP, had resigned on their own. They could then easily become ministers in the new government even if fresh elections had not been held.

Source: IndiaToday

 

 

Viewed from the perspective of Ashok Gehlot, he'd definitely want the 19 MLAs to be disqualified. Why? Because if they are disqualified, then the strength of the Rajasthan assembly would fall from 200 to 181 (200-19=181). The strength of Congress would fall from 107 to 88 (107-18=88). But with strength of 181, the majority mark would be at 91, 88 is not that far away from 91. Congress would need the support of only 3 more MLAs; be it independent MLAs or the MLAs of some other party in order to save their government. But if these MLAs do not get disqualified and if the Ashok Gehlot government is asked to prove their majority, during which these 19 MLAs vote against the Congress, then the government would fall. Although doing this would get them disqualified, but their vote would still be counted and taking their votes into count would mean that the government has fallen. Then, in both cases; whether they get disqualified or resign on their own, a re-election for those seats would anyway have to be conducted. But the fact is; until those re-elections are conducted, who would form the government here? If the 19 MLAs of Congress vote in favour of BJP, then BJP's total strength would become 72+19+3. The 3 would be the earlier allies of BJP. That would take the strength of BJP to 94 and the strength of Congress would fall down to 88. It would depend on the rest of the 13 independent MLAs whether BJP would take lead or the Congress would and who would form the government there.

 

So, overall, this is the reason why Ashok Gehlot would want the MLAs to be disqualified and these MLAs would try their best to not be disqualified. A case has been ongoing in the High Court regarding this.

 

 

Sachin Pilot vs Ashok Gehlot

 

This entire controversy raises a question; Who is right here? Sachin Pilot or Ashok Gehlot? Who, in this case is greedy for power and who rightly deserves it? There is one faction of people who favour Sachin Pilot. There is another faction of people who favour Ashok Gehlot. Let us see what arguments are from both the sides.

 

Those in favour of Sachin Pilot say that he was responsible for the revival of Congress in Rajasthan. In 2013, Congress had faced one of the worst defeats in Rajasthan. After that, Sachin Pilot built up the party and set up the organisation on order to ensure victory.

 

Also, several famous journalists and four Congress functionaries have said that Sachin Pilot was baited by Ashok Gehlot. Thus entire crisis has been started by Ashok Gehlot to remove Sachin Pilot from his way and to ensure that this problem never crops up again and his power is never challenged again. To bait Sachin Pilot, he had got the Rajasthan police to send him a notice and this "triggered" Sachin Pilot.

 

Third; it is also said that over the one and a half years, Sachin Pilot has been neglected by the Ashok Gehlot government. And that he was kept away from the helm of affairs. In the COVID-19 crisis, Sachin Pilot was not involved despite being the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. And when the government of Rajasthan released a booklet of its one- year achievements, it did not have any mention of Sachin Pilot.

Source: NewsX.Tv

 

 

Those in favour of Ashok Gehlot say that when Congress won the elections in Rajasthan in 2018, the idea that Sachin Pilot was responsible for that victory is a rumour, that was not so in reality. In reality, voters change the government every five years in Rajasthan. The government was set to change anyway. Sachin Pilot didn't have as big a role as portrayed by the media.

 

There is also speculation that BJP, especially Amit Shah wanted Vasundhara Raje out of his way, because he does not want any competitor against him for the post of Prime Minister and Vasundhara Raje was a Chief Minister who did not pay heed to the central command (Modi and Amit Shah).

 

The third argument is that the idea that Sachin Pilot was baited by Ashok Gehlot is not true because the Rajasthan police had actually intercepted audio in which there were conversations of the BJP trying to bribe and the proof that offers were being made to the MLAs exists. Two people were even arrested. So that is true then.

 

Some people even argue that Sachin Pilot was getting too greedy because Congress Party let him become an MP at the age of 26. He became the Union Minister at the age of 32. He then became the Rajasthan Congress Party President at the age of 36. He even became the Deputy Chief Minister at the age of 40. He is now becoming greedy and wants to achieve more in a shorter span of time.

 

And finally, it is argued that if Sachin Pilot has no links with the BJP, and he has no interest in joining the BJP, then why did he choose Harish Salve to represent them in the High Court? He is a lawyer who is believed to be pro-BJP. He was the top NDA lawyer in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and he has fought a number of cases in favour of BJP.

 

Here, I'd like to ask you- What do you think? Who is right and who is being greedy; Sachin Pilot or Ashok Gehlot? In my opinion one thing is clear; We do not know the result of it yet but let us wait and watch; if Sachin Pilot forms a new party, then he is wanting to tread on a new path. But if he joins the BJP because to quit a party and join another with a completely different ideology just shows that he lusts for power and money and has no ideology of his own. As for the disagreement and internal party politics, they are extremely common in my opinion. Disagreements between huge leaders happen in every party. Some people quit the party. This is not something earth shattering.

 

 

 Thumbnail Credits: TheQuint