When Congress fixes one edge of its dhoti, it opens from the other edge. Now Ashok Gehlot has said that there is a conspiracy against him. He was ready to become the president in September 2022. Whereas it was blown up against me that Ashok Gehlot had refused to become the national president. He revealed on Monday that it is completely wrong that I did not want to leave the post of Chief Minister of Rajasthan. According to him, the post of National President is a great honor for anyone.
Ashok Gehlot told with a very sad heart that after my name was decided, the high command sent two observers to Jaipur. But after that the events changed so rapidly that his name was banned. That too by publicizing that Ashok Gehlot is not interested in this post. This was a big conspiracy and the party had to bear the brunt of such elements.
Ashok Gehlot vs Sachin Pilot
The battle between Ashok Gehlot vs Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan is an old one. Despite being in the same team, both of them do not want to see each other in tears. Their mutual tussle also affects the central organization of the party. Rajasthan is one of those states where only Congress and BJP are in the fight. There is no regional party there. In a head-to-head fight, the divisions within each party should remain intact.
But the misfortune of Congress is that by the time one part gets repaired, the other part gets torn apart. Now after four years, Ashok Gehlot has again fueled the old rivalry by starting a new controversy. That too at a time when Congress seems to be doing something better. Congress may have lost Rajasthan in 2023 in the fight between two regional giants of its own party, but 2024 was auspicious for it. After 10 years, Congress reached a respectable position in the Lok Sabha.
Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken were observers
After this, in 2026 he lost nothing and instead captured Kerala. In the absence of Ashok Gehlot, Congress made Mallikarjun Kharge the president. Even if Mallikarjun Kharge is the president and Rahul Gandhi makes the strategy from behind, he will definitely be called successful. In such a situation, suddenly Ashok Gehlot has started this new tune. The question is, why did Ashok Gehlot feel the need to scratch this wound? When the Congress high command approved the name of Ashok Gehlot for the national president, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken had gone to Jaipur as central observers.
But when the response from Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was not positive, the high command made Mallikarjun Kharge the national president. At that time, Shashi Tharoor had also filed his nomination in the elections for the post of President.
Condition of Shashi Tharoor who wants presidency
Shashi Tharoor did not get success, on the contrary, he lost sight of the high command (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi). After this, no matter how much clarification Shashi Tharoor gave, he could not get the situation back to the way it was before. Thankfully, Congress gave him a ticket from Thiruvananthapuram in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and he also won. Although he was never Rahul Gandhi’s choice, he has been winning from Thiruvananthapuram continuously since 2009.
He was close to Manmohan Singh and was also a Union Minister in his government. But after Operation Sindoor in 2025, when he went to America to present India’s case at the behest of the Modi government, he became even more in the eyes of the Nehru-Gandhi family. After this, BJP also got the mayor’s seat in Thiruvananthapuram in December. But his contribution in the 2026 assembly elections cannot be denied. Yet the Congress high command still does not consider Shashi Tharoor loyal.
Sachin had rebelled
Similar is the condition of Ashok Gehlot now. He has been an MLA and MP. Union Minister as well as in the organization. Apart from this, he has been the Chief Minister of Rajasthan three times and has been a Union Minister in the Indira Gandhi government, Rajiv Gandhi government and PV Narasimha Rao government at the Centre. He has been the Minister of State in the first two governments and has had independent charge of the Textiles Ministry in the Narasimha Rao government.
He has been involved in central and state organizations, but in 2018, he was confronted with youth leader Sachin Pilot in such a way that he made his honor a matter of prestige. But Sachin Pilot remained rebellious with them. In the year 2020, he had instigated a rebellion with his supporting MLAs. Then Ashok Gehlot was able to save his government very efficiently. The Congress party had become weak due to the rebellious voices of Sachin Pilot.
Congress was limited by the mandate of 2019
After this, that opportunity came in September 2022 when Sachin saw his wish fulfilled. Ashok Gehlot taking over as the national president of the party meant that it would be easier for Pilot to get the chair in Rajasthan. But at that time the Congress central leadership was very weak. After the party’s shameful defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi had left the post of president. Sonia Gandhi was the working president of the party.
In such a situation, the party needed a full time president. A leader was needed who was powerful and had nationwide recognition. Sonia Gandhi was considering Ashok Gehlot suitable for this. But after everything was decided, it was said that Ashok Gehlot himself was not ready for this. That time was such that Congress had 52 seats in the Lok Sabha. Rahul Gandhi had also lost the Amethi seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Later he was brought to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad.
Fate of Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath
Then Ashok Gehlot’s refusal was taken seriously. Everyone thought that perhaps Ashok Gehlot does not want to leave the post of Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Similarly, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Ashok Gehlot had secured a party ticket from Jodhpur for his son Vaibhav Gehlot. Then it was also publicized that instead of focusing on the remaining 24 seats of the state in the Lok Sabha elections, Ashok Gehlot focused only on Jodhpur so that his son could win. Despite this, not a single Lok Sabha seat from Rajasthan went to Congress’s account.
The same situation happened in Madhya Pradesh where all the emphasis of Chief Minister Kamal Nath was on his son Nakul Nath. He too could not save his seat and Kamal Nath himself could not stop the government’s allies; as a result, BJP destroyed his seat by destroying his supporters. On the contrary, Ashok Gehlot got the BSP MLAs merged.
Gehlot missed!
Ashok Gehlot, a brilliant player of politics, took the post of party president lightly. He understood that now the post of Chief Minister of Rajasthan is better than the post of Congress President. This mistake of theirs proved costly and now they are accusing Sachin Pilot of betrayal.
If he had revealed this at that time, his prestige would have increased. They probably couldn’t understand the future. It is important for any national political party to make inroads into its central organization. Ashok Gehlot’s stature is big. He should not compare himself with Sachin Pilot. The national party is bound to become the pivot of central power one day or the other. After all, BJP, which had won only two Lok Sabha seats in 1984, reached 120 in 1989. In 1996, 1998 and 2004, it formed governments with the help of allies. Even though they were 13 days, 13 months and 5 years old respectively. After this, in 2014, BJP formed the government with full majority.
The president of the national party is not weak!
Ashok Gehlot missed his chance here. If he had put this before the media at that time, a message would have been sent that Ashok Gehlot is not interested in the post of Chief Minister. Secondly, he would have been 80 years younger and more active than Mallikarjun Kharge. By 2024, the failures of the central government also start becoming a hindrance. That is why BJP’s chariot got stuck at 240 and Congress reached from 52 to 99.
He gets credit for this. It is true that he would have faced obstacles from those close to Rahul Gandhi but he would have overcome them. On the other hand, Sachin Pilot’s challenge would have ended, maybe Sachin would have been satisfied after getting the post of Chief Minister.
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