JAIPUR: The political turmoil in Punjab has created ripples and intensified political activity in Rajasthan. With the Congress high command replacing Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi as the Punjab CM, a big buzz has been set off that the reshuffle in the Gehlot govt and political appointments in Rajasthan will soon be finalised.
The buzz in political circles is that after Punjab, a solution to the Rajasthan crisis is the top priority of the Congress High Command.
The Sachin Pilot camp is excited over a reported meeting between Sachin Pilot and Rahul Gandhi over the weekend. Pilot loyalists, on condition of anonymity, said after the Punjab resolution, a formula to resolve the Rajasthan rift cannot be delayed any longer. With Pilot reportedly holding detailed discussions with Rahul, they are confident that the party will soon take a ‘fair and balanced decision about Rajasthan at the earliest.
The Pilot faction expects that after the Punjab episode, a power-sharing arrangement will soon be worked out where the promised cabinet reshuffle and other political appointments will be finally settled. Sachin Pilot, who was sacked both as the deputy CM and the state Congress chief after his rebellion last year, has repeatedly expressed the hope that the high command will take effective steps to address the issues raised by him. After the Punjab saga, the Pilot camp is quite confident that the party will fulfill the promises made to them which have been inordinately delayed for one reason or the other over the past year.
Significantly, though CM Ashok Gehlot stayed away from the recent session of the Rajasthan assembly due to illness, he is now suddenly back in action. Besides advising Amarinder Singh through Twitter not to do anything to damage the party, Gehlot is holding a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. On Monday, Gehlot held a review meeting on a special campaign of his government called ‘Prashasan Ganwo ke Sangh’ (Administration with Villages). While this was an online meet with senior officials, Gehlot on Wednesday will meet his ministers in person - in the first offline meeting of his Cabinet for over a year.
CM Gehlot has so far refused to act under any pressure for making the changes demanded by the Pilot faction. However, insiders say Gehlot is likely to soften his stance after a clear statement was made recently by the AICC general secretary Ajay Maken. The Incharge for Rajasthan had said that the roadmap for the state is ready and that the delay in Cabinet expansion, to accommodate Pilot loyalists, was only due to Gehlot’s recent angioplasty.
Though many in the Pilot camp claim that the AICC has made it clear that CM Gehlot cannot postpone decisions indefinitely, Gehlot loyalists are keen to assert that the Rajasthan situation is very different from that in Punjab. As state Revenue Minister, Harish Chaudhary who was one of the two AICC observers for the Punjab episode, remarked, “MLAs in Rajasthan are strong with CM Ashok Gehlot and there is no resentment towards him. The cabinet expansion would have happened but for CM’s ill-health. The day the CM’s plane flies towards Delhi, the cabinet expansion will also happen.”