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'Reprieve' for Gehlot

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI DEC. 30. The beleaguered Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, today appeared to have won a reprieve from the party high command. He has been told by the central leadership to firm up his act and draw up plans to revitalise and refurbish his Government and the party.

Mr. Gehlot, who is here to do fire-fighting following a spurt in dissident activity in the party, denied any knowledge of any move to replace him. "I have neither been told to quit, nor do I have any knowledge about any impending change.''

His confidence was endorsed by the AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, Amibica Soni, who held an extended consultative session involving Mr. Gehlot and the Rajasthan PCC chief, Girija Vyas. "There is no proposal before us to remove him,'' Ms. Soni said.

Emerging from the meeting, the Chief Minister expressed confidence that notwithstanding the loss in the recent byelections, the Congress would once again be given the mandate to rule the State on the basis of his Government's performance.

Mr. Gehlot is leaving nothing to chance and has been holding a series of meetings with party bigwigs. He is expected to meet the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, tomorrow.

Significantly, Mr. Gehlot's afternoon appointment with Ms. Gandhi was postponed, and he was advised to meet Ms. Soni and draw up a comprehensive plan of action to revitalise the party and the Government.

Emerging from his meeting with Ms. Soni, Mr. Gehlot said plans had been drawn up to hold workers' conventions, up from the block level. He said there was no need to press the "panic button". "These things happen. There is absolutely no need to panic.'' He also discounted the impression that the party had been losing byelections regularly in the State. "There have been 13 byelections since we took over, the Congress and the BJP have won three seats each, and have snatched a similar number from each other.''

He, however, admitted that he needed to dispel the impression among the party workers that only the elected representatives mattered in his Government's scheme of things. "The party workers are our main strength and they have to be given a greater sense of involvement." His Government's achievements needed to be highlighted better.

On the growing dissatisfaction among the Jat community, the Chief Minister said it was more a "Delhi-based phenomena". "Some people were using the recent byelection results to fan this feeling." His "endeavour" had always been to take all sections of society, and give them the maximum representation.

Seemingly confident of his Government's ability to tackle the challenge posed by the Sangh Parivar, Mr. Gehlot said that his opponents would not be able to replicate Gujarat. "They created a communal divide, but the Hindutva card cannot succeed everywhere,'' he said.

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