Where’s the PILOT landing at?- ‘Rajasthani tussle’
Background
The Rajasthani Rann of political tussles has overpowered the rest of the news items. Even COVID-19 is not getting that highlight owing to the instability that the Gehlot regime has in its grasp.
The Deputy Chief Minister of the Rajasthan government, Mr. Sachin Pilot, created a fuss among the Rajasthan MLAs and Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister himself, by withdrawing himself from party meetings and taking a lesser interest in any affairs, in the last six months.
The voices of rebellion were getting stronger every day; the crucial time of confrontation came when Sachin Pilot outraged and presented his disagreement with the party’s functioning.
After coming to Delhi, he was adamant about going back and attending the party’s legislative meeting. Following this, he was again invited to a meeting that took place on Tuesday morning, but he didn’t participate in it.
After the party’s legislature meeting, All India Congress spoke to the media clarifying that the Congress party isn’t responsible for any of the foul play that’s happening, it’s rather BJP that is trying to overwhelm Pilot and his aides as he had been given enough chances in the party as Deputy CM, chief of the state unit and as a MOS. However, he fell for the opposition’s trap.
Mr. Sachin Pilot has been removed from the offices of the Deputy Chief Minister and the State Unit Chief due to his absence from two CLA meetings consecutively. His two aides, Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena have also been removed from their offices from the cabinet.
All the MLAs who have gone rogue along with the leader will be disqualified from their official roles soon.
A video surfaced on Monday evening by Rajasthan Tourism minister Vishwendra Singh, captioning it as ‘family’ in which 16 MLAs on Sachin’s side were sitting on a lawn together in a circle.
BJP owns the resort where Sachin Pilot and his aides are staying. The video went viral within a few minutes of it being shared.
Ashok Gehlot alleged the BJP of foul play in states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and now Rajasthan.
He said that at regular intervals, the same group of people is pulling strings from Congress in order to make the foundations weak.
Ashok Gehlot met Rajasthan’s Governor Kalraj Mishra on Tuesday morning after the assembly strength came down to 100 MLAs from the previous 107, including 90 Congress MLAs, 7 independent, and 3 from smaller parties.
One ally (BTP) which had two MLAs in the assembly, has also withdrawn support from the Congress government.
Down the memory lane
Back in the day, the Madhya Pradesh Congress government, led by Kamalnath was on edge in the same manner as Rajasthan now.
Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia took a decision, moved his MLAs along with him, met BJP’s supremo J.P.Nadda and within days was a member of BJP.
Things started to look abnormal when he removed INC’s tag from his Twitter handle and added that he is just a public servant.
Jyotiraditya Scindia had cited a lack of leadership and youth empowerment in the oldest party of the country, as reasons for quitting the former biggie. The main culprit was indirectly interpreted to be Rahul Gandhi.
Mr. Rahul Gandhi stepped down as President of the 1885-established party, last year after holding himself responsible for the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
The party members had different voices and opinions about where the party was going, which resulted in the return of the older President, Ms. Sonia Gandhi.
Many videos surfaced posting Rahul Gandhi as an immature and irresponsible politician when during the Lok Sabha proceedings, he was caught using his phone or winking at his colleagues.
According to sources, this depicted a lack of integrity and capable leadership in the party which led to the departure of many known faces that had been its part for a long time.
Jyotiraditya Scindia has stepped in this matter too and highlighted the fact that young leadership and new thought and opinions generally don’t find their way into the Congress party which is escalating the process of brain drain from the party.
He defended Sachin Pilot by saying that he is a talented, hard-working man who doesn’t receive much appreciation for his work over there.
In order to support his stance, he also tweeted regarding the situation and extended his support to his ex-colleague.
The story of MLAs going rogue and sitting in big hotels for days has been a hot topic on many media platforms. Various speculations regarding the manipulative practices of other parties made their way into the air when a large group of members quit one party and moved to another.
The voters started thinking that no matter whether we elect Tom, Nick, or Harry, we will end up getting the same candidate or party at last.
BJP had pledged to make India rid of Congress, and it looks like the play is in order as the states which had Congress in the regime are heading towards being BJP-led.
What is likely to happen now?
Mr. Pilot’s ultimate stance and his next political move will be talked about by him, which will present a clear picture as to what were his intentions behind the rebellion.
However, a tweet that came from him speaks a lot about his mindset on this topic, which said, ‘Truth can be frustrating but not defeated.’
In the wake of the rift that has been happening in the house, Mr. Gehlot is likely to put in all efforts to remain in power.
If BJP suggests a floor test in the state and the same is approved by the Governor, the individual war will turn into party-panga.
However, Ashok Gehlot had clarified that the party has more than the majority for the government to remain intact, along with 13 independent and one MLA each from CPI (M) and RJD whereas BJP and ally RLP have 73 MLAs in total.
Whereas the tables have turned rapidly and the sources have reported that around 20 MLAs are on Pilot’s side, among whom are three independent legislators, 16 are from Congress, and two are even ministers in the Rajasthan cabinet.
