Ashok Gehlot plays Congress power game
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, September 26: By the time sun set in Rajasthan on Monday evening, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who was certain to become Congress president, now faces the prospects of expulsion from the party.
Congress general secretary Ajay Maken was more than keen to give blow by blow accounts of the power game drama that unfolded in Jaipur on Sunday evening when the Ashok Gehlot loyalists laid siege of the Central observers sent by the Congress high command to oversee the change of leadership in the state.
Maken along with leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge called on the interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi to give an account of the events that took place in Jaipur. Maken later told reporters that Gandhi has asked for written report by Monday night, fueling the speculations of an impending disciplinary action against Gehlot.
Rajasthan Chief Minister enjoys the support of not less than 90 MLAs in the state, and any disciplinary action could only pave way for the vertical split in Congress in the state and also the possibility of political instability gripping Jaipur.
Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, who has already taken the nomination papers for the contest of the election for the president post, seems now to have a better electoral chance. The Congress high command is now faced with a challenge to look for a substitute for Gehlot among the already depleted stock of the elders.
Only Kharge now remains the most loyal elder in the party for the Gandhis. But he is on the wrong side of the age.
For the Gandhis, acting against Gehlot is unavoidable as any surrender before the power game of Rajasthan Chief Minister will be the last nail in the coffin of the high command. Gandhis have more onerous task on the hand as Sachin Pilot and Gehlot have crossed the line to remain together in the party.
Giving a blunt account of Gehlot’s pressure tactics, Maken told reporters that the Chief Minister of Gehlot wanted a resolution passed authorizing the party president to take a decision on the leadership change in the state only after October 19.
“Everybody knows that after October 19 Gehlot would have himself become the president of Congress. This would have been a clear case of conflict of interest,” said Maken.
He also said that the Central Observers were not allowed to have one on one interactions with Congress MLAs, with Gehlot supporters insisting that they should not meet the Pilot loyalists.
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Very good one well written article!