Jaipur: Ashok Gehlot has been in politics for the last five decades and it must have been a challenge to most of the politicians to stay politically relevant even after two miserable defeats while leaving the party as chief minister and at the of 72 but by creating a positive vibe for the party through populist schemes and getting tickets for most of his supporters, Gehlot showed his political acumen and proved his relevance.
Ashok Gehlot has been the Chief Minister of Rajasthan thrice, but this one has been his most challenging tenure as a Chief Minister. For the entire five years, he struggled with challenges from within the party and from outside due to the opposition party government in the Centre. This was the reason that before the start of the election year, the political situation was not considered favourable for the Congress in Rajasthan, but through the populist budget presented in the election year and subsequent guarantee-based announcements in inflation relief camps, he managed to create a soothing vibe for the party to some extent and the party entered into the election battle with a positive note.
'Gehlot's Guarantee'
The word 'Gehlot's guarantee' has been featured in the elections to such an extent that even PM Modi is now talking about Modi's guarantees in his speeches to counter Gehlot's guarantees.
Gehlot's assembly constituency is Sardarpura, a part of Jodhpur parliamenty constituency which is being represented by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat the union minister for Jalshakti, for the last two times. Shekhawat got considerable lead from Sardarpura, so challenge for Gehlot is not less in his constituency also.
Gehlot's PHED Minister Mahesh Joshi, who could not get the ticket this time, said that it is difficult to assess right now what the election results will be, but it is certain that the way CM Ashok Gehlot has worked, it will bring victory for him and the Congress.
Apart from governance, Gehlot has proved his political showmanship in the selection of candidates.
Due to factionalism and internal strife in the party during the last five years, it was believed that this time Gehlot would not be able to get the same support free hand of the party high command, but the party has repeated 85 of the sitting 102 Congress MLAs and among them most of are Gehlot supporters who even submitted their resignations in support of Gehlot to the Speaker on September 25th last year.
Besides this, Gehlot has managed to get party tickets for most of the independents and BSP turncoats who stood firm with him at the time of political crisis and during crucial Rajya Sabha elections.
It clearly shows that somewhere he has succeeded in convincing the party that it can trust him.
Political experts believe that the way he has influenced the candidate selection clearly shows that even if Congress manages to form the government, it wouldn't be easy to keep him away from the CM post.
Political analyst Rajiv Tiwari believes that the kind of political acumen that Ashok Gehlot has shown in creating a positive atmosphere for the party and in selecting candidates shows that as a politician, he is the biggest face of Rajasthan at present and proved that one may like it or not but he is the center point of this election.
