Ashok Gehlot’s choice was a done deal from day one

Though it took three messy days after the assembly poll results for Congress president Rahul Gandhi to formally choose senior leader Ashok Gehlot as Rajasthan chief minister, party sources said his elevation was inevitable from day one for a variety of solid political reasons.

Equally, they added, the deputy chief minister’s post was a natural offer for Sachin Pilot too, just as it was for Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh, which he politely declined avoiding a spectacle.

Sources said when AICC observers met newly-elected Congress legislators in Jaipur post-results, the observers proposed the meeting pass a resolution authorising Gandhi to name the new CM. The MLAs promptly agreed but also said that the observers should meet them individually to ascertain their preference and convey their views to Gandhi along with the authorisation resolution.


Nearly 70 of the 99 favoured Gehlot as CM. Further, all independents MLAs who pledged support to a Congress government to give it a comfortable majority had the rider that Gehlot must head the government. Gehlot’s administrative and political experience to first stabilise the government and then to consolidate on the gains made by the assembly election to deliver a bigger victory for Congress in the state for the Lok Sabha polls, where Rahul Gandhi and Congress have high stakes, are party priorities.

Party sources said that the ‘orchestrated’ mob mobilisation outside the Jaipur meeting venue and “relative inexperience” of Congress observers led to the tussle moving to Delhi and to Gandhi’s court for two days. Despite Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi concurring with the overwhelming views, Pilot’s pitched fight for himself, and the street show his supporters staged, left even many of his wellwishers disenchanted, especially after the street show got a ‘Gujjar aggression’ label in caste-sensitive Rajasthan. Some young wellwishers in his party are also learnt to have advised Pilot to realistically go along the leadership’s overall thinking before the announcement was made formal.

Pilot’s claims that his hard work of the last five years in leading Rajasthan Congress fight back and that his elevation would send an inspiring message to the youth could not convince the leadership to overlook the reality that it always took a PCC chief and party workers to work hard to bring back Congress to power in Rajasthan which has elected it every alternate term in the last few decades. “Pilot has a long road ahead, hopefully a bright one at it. Instead of showing impatience, he should use the deputy CM’s stint as an opportunity for learning and consolidating,” said a senior Congress MP.

Though Pilot may continue as the PCC chief for now, there are indications that the AICC may have to consider a new PCC chief and even a second deputy CM at some-stage for to meet Congress’ delicate caste-management, especially since both Gehlot and Pilot belong to Backward Classes.