Jaipur: It seems that the saga of factionalism continues in the Congress party as it is yet to decide the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Rajasthan legislative assembly. The party has appointed LoPs in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh before the commencement of the assembly session but Rajasthan is waiting even after the first spell of the first season is over.
After losing elections in three states, Congress was expected to make changes in the state units of MP, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan. It was done In Madhya Pradesh where Kamal Nath has been removed and Jitu Patwari has been appointed as the new state president. In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Congress has appointed a Leader of Opposition, but no changes have been made in Rajasthan. Govind Singh Dotasara is heading the party in the state and the post of LoP is vacant.
The party had convened the party legislators meeting on the very second day of the election results and authorised the party high command to decide the name of the LoP but it has been a fortnight since then.
The sources in the party said that the changes have been stuck as both the top leaders of the party in the state former CM Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot have not arrived at a consensus on the name of the LoP.
Ashok Gehlot not interested in becoming LoP
Although Ashok Gehlot is the senior leader of the party he does not seem interested in becoming the Leader of Opposition. Even in the previous two terms of BJP, Ashok Gehlot kept himself away from the post. However, the Gehlot camp has its eyes on this post.
It is believed that the Gehlot camp has forwarded the name of Mahendra Jeet Singh Malviya, a former minister and senior tribal leader, while the other faction wants Sachin Pilot to take over the post. Apart from these two names, state party president Govind Singh Dotasara, former minister Shanti Dhariwal and Harish Choudhary are also in the race.
Congress not keen on replacing Dotasara
The sources said that looking at the general elections in the next few months, the party is not interested in replacing Dotasara and is looking for the right caste combination on both key posts. Dotasara comes from the Jat community and having a Gurjar leader like Sachin Pilot on the post of LoP may prove to be a good combination, but it cannot afford to ignore Ashok Gehlot, so it is proving to be a difficult decision for the party.
While talking to the media a few days ago, Congress state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that there are many senior leaders in Congress. Even though the party could not win the assembly elections, the performance of Congress was good. Considering the performance, there is no need to make any changes in the organisation. Randhawa said that many senior leaders have won the elections. Only the high command will decide the leader of the opposition.
