The brewing rebellion in the Rajasthan Congress lost its fizz midway but the rivalry between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot will continue to haunt the party’s government in the State. Mr. Pilot appears to have overplayed his hand, in the process exposing himself to potential retribution by the veteran who is known to be as ruthless to adversaries as he is loyal to followers. The Deputy Chief Minister had claimed the support of 30 of the 107 Congress MLAs in the State, but the show of strength on Monday turned in a different picture. More than 100 MLAs appear to have attended a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, which is above the halfway mark in the 200-strong Assembly. As the head of the Congress State unit, Mr. Pilot played a crucial role in the victory of the party in 2018 and his disappointment at losing the top post to Mr. Gehlot soon became a festering wound into which the latter only rubbed salt. The Gehlot camp has accused Mr. Pilot of hobnobbing with the BJP to topple the government. By going public with his resentment and marshalling legislators in his camp to BJP-ruled Haryana, Mr. Pilot gave a fillip to speculation that the BJP was involved as it was in toppling the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in March. Any such move would have been a dishonouring of the mandate that Mr. Pilot himself laboured for in Rajasthan in 2018.
Analysis | Sachin Pilot revolt brings into focus Congress’s leadership battles across States
Uninterested or incapable, the Congress central leadership was asleep as storm clouds were gathering over its government in Rajasthan. Factional fights have been endemic in the Congress, but ambitious and impatient leaders are usually kept in check by the alertness of the central leadership. Rahul Gandhi often takes the plea that he is not the party president and Sonia Gandhi, who is the president, defers to her son, creating a loop of power vacuum and lack of accountability in the party. There is despondency at all levels in the Congress, still reeling from two consecutive Lok Sabha election routs. Many leaders have left the party for greener pastures. The friction between Mr. Pilot and Mr. Gehlot is also emblematic of a larger issue of a halting generational transition in the Congress. To say that Mr. Pilot, who became a Member of Parliament at the age of 26, Union Minister in his mid-thirties and Deputy Chief Minister at 41, is not recognised in the Congress is laughable. At the same time, there is a strong case for infusion of younger blood on a massive scale in the party. Far from relentlessly searching for new ideas and people, the Congress leadership is throwing away the limited assets it has by sheer callousness. The averted disaster in Rajasthan will return in a new avatar if nothing is done. It will take a lot of blood and toil for the Congress to take the battle to the BJP’s camp; but before anything, the party must put its house in order.
