Ashok Gehlot is 71 years old;

Sachin Pilot, who was once his deputy, is 45 years old.

(file photo)

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who is publicly known as a magician (his father was a magician by profession), surprised everyone late last evening by calling a meeting of Congress MLAs (which many are calling a kind of magic) and asking them to Guaranteed that he would continue to serve Rajasthan even while living in Delhi.

This meant that if he was made president to lead the Congress party, as Sonia Gandhi has urged, he would not hand over his bastion and throne to an opponent like Sachin Pilot.

Ashok Gehlot is 71 years old;

Sachin Pilot, who was once his deputy, is 45 years old.

In the year 2018, when the Congress won the Rajasthan assembly elections, Pilot was promised that the two leaders would sit alternately in the chief minister's chair.

However, that is yet to happen.

Whereas, elections are to be held next year for the formation of a new government in Rajasthan.

Ashok Gehlot has decided that during this tenure, Sachin Pilot should not be made the Chief Minister of the state.

He wants that if he becomes the Congress President, then the person nominated by him should become the Chief Minister of the state.

Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (File photo)

To establish his control over Rajasthan, Gehlot called a meeting of all the MLAs last night.

The timing was also opportune as Sachin Pilot is in Kerala for a padyatra under the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi.

After meeting Sonia Gandhi in Delhi today, it is Ashok Gehlot's turn to join the Bharat Jodo Padyatra.

Two days ago, Sachin Pilot had met the newly elected Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

On the same day Ashok Gehlot also organized a dinner for him immediately.

Dhankhar is originally from Rajasthan.

Their old rivalry has reached a climax as the two Congress leaders are likely to change their positions.

Sachin Pilot with Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar

Shashi Tharoor, who had met Sonia Gandhi two days ago and informed her that he wanted to contest for the president's post, also met Priyanka Gandhi last evening.

Congress is ready to contest for its top post after two full decades.

Sources close to Shashi Tharoor told me that he met Sonia Gandhi not to "get permission" or "green signal" but to discuss free and fair elections.

Shashi Tharoor clearly found Sonia Gandhi to be a "supporter" of a clean process in elections, underlining that she would not field an "official" candidate but would remain "neutral" in the elections.

However, it is a well-known fact that Sonia Gandhi has been urging Ashok Gehlot to take over the role of Congress President, which means that he is seen as a candidate of the Gandhi family.

But from Ashok Gehlot to Shashi Tharoor, everyone is publicly ready to step back for Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the party's "unity march" these days.

Rahul declined to comment publicly on whether he would take over the reins of the party but sources say that privately, he has made it clear that he will not accept the position for the time being.

Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders at 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

MLAs close to Ashok Gehlot told me that when he meets Rahul Gandhi on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', he will make his last attempt to persuade him for the post of president and even if he does not agree, apparently to "save the party". For this, he will file his nomination for the post of President.

The Chief Minister has made it clear that he is a reluctant candidate.

He said that whatever the party tells him, he will accept it.

Ashok Gehlot is a shrewd leader, a trusted lieutenant of the Gandhi family;

When Sachin Pilot tried to split the Congress two years ago, it was Ashok Gehlot's political shrewdness that saved all.

Sachin Pilot's alleged supporters were kept away from him until the young leader was left in isolation and returned to motherhood after a disastrous coup attempt in Rajasthan.

Ashok Gehlot worked closely with Rahul Gandhi in the last election in Gujarat, where the Congress managed to intimidate the BJP.

However, the BJP managed to retain power in the state.

Most importantly, Ashok Gehlot has immense organizational skills and connect with party workers as he has held multiple positions in the party.

He also has good equations with big corporate houses, which can benefit Congress.

Shashi Tharoor, on the other hand, has been a silent member of the G-23, a group of disgruntled leaders in the Congress, who wrote several letters to Sonia Gandhi demanding a change in the Congress.

Two of the G-23 founders, Kapil Sibal and Ghulam Nabi Azad, have quit the Congress after making a scathing personal attack against Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor (file photo)

Shashi Tharoor was inspired to join politics by Sonia Gandhi and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram for the first time in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

He is a renowned author and outstanding public speaker.

He is liked in the urban areas of the country but he does not have a base of workers.

Even the party unit in his own home state, Kerala, does not support him.

Kerala along with 10 other states has also passed a resolution to make Rahul Gandhi the Congress President.

The last non-Gandhi president of the Congress was Sitaram Kesari, who was replaced by Sonia Gandhi in 1998, and is now the longest-serving president of the party.

After the Congress, and those who have left the party continuously, some of the remaining leaders here are a little too emotional about the Gandhi family.

According to sources, Rahul Gandhi has a vision under which it is his job to decide the party's agenda and ideology, while the party president will provide organizational support and logistics.

The current system is largely such, where Rahul Gandhi makes all decisions behind the scenes, and his mother Sonia's condition has become like a rubber stamp.

How much this cosmetic surgery will help in the downfall of the party is a matter of debate inside the Congress, where everything from leadership to organizational change is in do not disturb mode.

However, Ashok Gehlot by becoming Congress President will be happy that Sachin Pilot is not allowed to become his successor.

Meanwhile, the young leader is struggling to get his dream job (chief minister's post).

Swati Chaturvedi is a writer and journalist who has worked with The Indian Express, The Statesman and The Hindustan Times.



Disclaimer:

The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author.