JAIPUR: In the midst of the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan Congress, CM Ashok Gehlot will be on an election tour to Gujarat for four days from Friday. Apart from holding public meetings at six places from October 28 to October 31, Gehlot will also participate in the Bharat Jodo Padyatra in Banaskantha.
According to the schedule, CM Gehlot will leave for Vadodara from Jaipur by a special plane on October 28 at 9 am. After this, he will address public meetings in Garbada and Fatehpura (Jalod). After reaching Vadodara, Gehlot will hold a press conference in Vadodara at 4.15 pm.
On October 29, Gehlot will reach Anvasari from Surat to address a public meeting and on October 30, he will address public meetings in Banaskantha, Kherbrahma and Bhiloda in Aravalli.
On October 31, Gehlot will lead a rally for the Bharat Jodo Padyatra in Banaskantha where the entire group will march on foot for two hours.
Though the Gujarat poll schedule is not yet known, the election campaign has intensified. PM Narendra Modi will address a large public meeting on November 1 at Mangarh Dham, the main pilgrimage site of tribals in the Banswara district of Rajasthan, adjoining Gujarat.
In this meeting, about 1 lakh tribals of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are likely to participate. PM Modi will address 99 tribal seats of the three states through public meetings and conferences. 27 seats in the Gujarat assembly, 25 in Rajasthan Assembly and 47 seats in Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly are reserved for STs.
In this program being organised by the Union Ministry of Culture and an NGO, the CM and BJP State President of all three states have been invited. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan are involved. This will be the first time that Modi as PM and Chief Minister Gehlot as CM will be seen together on a public stage.
After the resignation of the Congress in-charge of Gujarat, Raghu Sharma, this visit of CM Gehlot assumes special significance as he is the senior observer of the Congress for the Gujarat Assembly elections.
After the 102 MLAs from the Gehlot faction had refused to meet AICC observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken and boycotted the CLP meeting held in Jaipur calling for the selection of a new Chief Minister in Rajasthan, CM Gehlot’s political future has been under a cloud.
Gehlot had to go to Delhi and apologize to Sonia Gandhi for this incident. Three leaders close to Gehlot were even given show-cause notices.
But on Wednesday, during his Delhi tour, Gehlot, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were seen together congratulating Mallikarjun Kharge on his taking charge as Congress chief. To say that the crisis on Gehlot's CM chair is over is still not clear but in the chamber of Kharge, Gehlot was seen sitting next to Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, an indication that there is a great danger to his chair at the moment.
Sources say during this meeting, Rahul and Gehlot also discussed preparations for the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Gujarat and the assembly elections with Mallikarjun Kharge.
CM Gehlot had also done election tours in Gujarat with Rahul Gandhi during the last assembly elections. Both had also reached the tribals and though the Congress lost the election results were shocking for the BJP as well.
The performance of Congress was very good in the home state of PM Modi. Of the total 182 seats, 99 seats were won by BJP, 80 seats by Congress, and three seats by others. As such, many say that CM Gehlot's four-day visit to Gujarat has its own meaning. It is a sign of relief for CM Gehlot and there is also a political message behind his taking out a Bharat Jodo Padyatra in Gujarat.
After Kharge's coronation as AICC president, the resignation of Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken is also being considered a relief for the Gehlot camp. Since the Gehlot camp had openly accused Maken of bias and creating an atmosphere in favour of making Sachin Pilot the Chief Minister, it is believed that soon another leader will be given charge in Rajasthan.