The power struggle within Rajasthan Congress continues unabated. Deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot is not sparing any opportunity to cast aspirations on and embarrass chief minister Ashok Gehlot. All through the week Pilot has been firing verbal salvos at the CM on various issues related to governance. Meanwhile, Gehlot continues to maintain that he was chosen as chief minister because the people of the state wanted it.
Pilot has given statements that question the sensitivity and integrity of the government and the law and order situation in the state. The week started with the deputy CM saying that the government representatives should have visited the families of the children who lost their lives in Kota hospital.
Next, he spoke against the corruption in tourism department tendering process and that the minister himself had raised the issue but officials were unaffected. He said the government should resolve the issue.
Now, Pilot has condemned the attack on Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal in Barmer on Thursday. He said that a civilized society has no space for violence and hoped that police would take action against the offender. “This should not have happened and it is the duty of all of us that it does not happen again in future,” he said.
Sachin Pilot’s outbursts are a manifestation of the tension that is simmering between him and Gehlot. The two have not been on best of terms since Gehlot beat Pilot in the race to the CM’s chair.
But at this point of time, with a six year tenure Pilot has become the longest-serving PCC chief in Rajasthan. It is now imminent that the baton will be passed on to someone else. And with Gehlot in the CM chair, a strong possibility is that it could be his loyalist.
Pilot and his loyalists feel that this would hamper his clout in the state because that would leave him with just the position of Dy CM, which constitutionally is akin to a cabinet minister.
A change is in the offing in the Congress organisation at both the national and the state level. Till then party insiders feel that the tussle would go on unabated.
