Ajay Maken ko gussa kyon aata hai and the many headaches of Sachin Pilot

It is now known that Maken sent in his resignation to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as AICC general secretary on November 8 itself but this was kept under wraps...
Sachin Pilot seen congratulating Ajay Maken when the latter was named General Secretary In-charge of Rajasthan. (File Photo | EPS)
Sachin Pilot seen congratulating Ajay Maken when the latter was named General Secretary In-charge of Rajasthan. (File Photo | EPS)

Last Thursday in Rajasthan's Sardarshahar in Churu district, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot along with the Pradesh Congress President Govind Singh Dotasara and several ministers were present when Anil Sharma filed his nomination papers for the by-election to the Sardarshahar seat in the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha. The death of the sitting Congress legislator Bhanwar Lal Sharma had necessitated the election and the party fielded his son Anil against the former BJP MLA Ashok Pincha.

Notably, neither the AICC general secretary Ajay Maken nor the former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot were present when Anil Sharma filed his nomination.

Maken had announced on November 15 that he would not like to continue as the AICC general secretary in charge for Rajasthan and after this declaration, it was a given that he would not participate in any event in the state. The AICC, in fact, had even launched a search for his successor.

It is now known that Maken sent in his resignation to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as AICC general secretary on November 8 itself but this was kept under wraps and he was told by Kharge to continue as general secretary. But Maken decided to make his resignation public after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot put his trusted lieutenant Dharmendra Rathore in charge of making arrangements for Rahul Gandhi's proposed Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state in the first week of December. Rathore is not even an MLA but enjoys the complete confidence of the Chief Minister.

Crucially, he along with the urban development minister Shanti Dhariwal and public health engineering minister Mahesh Joshi were served disciplinary notices by the AICC for leading the boycott by the majority of the MLAs of the Congress Legislature Party's (CLP) meeting at Jaipur on September 25. The current Congress President Kharge and Maken were the men kept waiting on the day.

Maken said his insistence on resigning stemmed from the failure of the party to penalise the trio for this act of rank indiscipline. He had in his report to the then Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on the Jaipur episode made it clear that strict action was necessary. But the senior leader was hurt when the trio were let off after they submitted their version of events.

It did not help that the three leaders in turn accused Maken of siding with Pilot. They claimed he was canvassing on behalf of Pilot when the party was facing a rebellion from a group led by the latter. The three leaders openly blamed Maken for coercing the MLAs to effect a change in the leadership in the state.

Maken's timing of his resignation before the Sardarshahar by-poll then read like an attempt to force Congress President Kharge to initiate action against Dhariwal, Joshi, and Rathore.

The Congress inner circle in Rajasthan believes this sudden resignation of Maken and his insistence on appointing a new general secretary was done with the knowledge of Rahul Gandhi, who many still see as supporting Pilot. Senior party leaders feel that Maken raked up the issue to press for a change in leadership in Rajasthan. But, the fact remains that Pilot has not been able to muster enough support from the Congress MLAs and barely enjoys the goodwill of eight to 10 of them.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra might now add to Pilot's headaches. This is because the Gujjar community, to which Pilot belongs, has threatened to disrupt the yatra if their demands for reservations and withdrawal of criminal cases against all community members who participated in the massive Gujjar agitation 12 years ago is not met. Vijay Bainsla, the son of the late Gujjar leader Colonel Kirori Bainsla, issued the threat. The Gujjars held a demonstration last week in Bharatpur and burnt an effigy of Gehlot.

The stand taken by the Gujjar community has caused problems for Pilot at a time when he has decided to join Rahul Gandhi in his yatra across the state. At the back of his mind must be the fact that he cannot afford to annoy the Gujjar community too. It is verily a Catch-22 for the usually suave and dapper politician.

Ironically for Pilot supporters, the yatra will be crucial for Gehlot also as he plans to use it to highlight the various welfare schemes introduced by his government that have received good responses from the masses. Gehlot is set to harp on his new battle slogan -- that of the "Rajasthan model" trumping the Gujarat model.

The Rajasthan CM insists that the country should follow the Rajasthan model of governance and forget about the Gujarat model. In the midst of all this action will be the Sardarshahar by-election, where almost 2.9 lakh voters are eligible to cast their vote, on December 5. It should get all parties in the mood for the 2023 Assembly election battle in the state, where Gehlot is expected to lead the Congress again.

(Prakash Bhandari is a senior journalist. These are the writer's views.)

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