KNIVES AT THE READY

RAJASTHAN CABINET RESHUFFLE

- Rohit Parihar 

The Congress high command’s bid to put a united face on the recent reshuffle of the Rajasthan government’s council of ministers—the first in three years—appears to have failed. In recent weeks, members of the rival camps led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot have openly hit out at each other.

On December 4, at an informal meeting of the council of ministers at chief minister Gehlot’s residence in Jaipur’s Civil Lines, the tension was palpable. The agenda for the meeting was to prepare for the party’s national rally, to be held in Jaipur on December 12 (initially to be held in Delhi, and shifted to Jaipur after the Delhi police denied the party permission to hold the rally). Also present at the meeting were AICC (All India Congress Committee) general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken. A comment made by the chief minister during his address underlined persistent mistrust and the fact that the attempted coup to topple his government by Pilot and his loyalists was not a forgotten—or forgiven—affair. Directly naming three of the rebels, Gehlot said, “Ramesh [Meena], Vishvendra [Singh] and Hema [Ram Choudhary] had gone away, leaving us [during the rebellion by Pilot’s camp in July 2021]. Had 80 Congress MLAs, those who joined us from the BSP and Independents not supported us, we would not be holding this meeting today.” The barb did not go unanswered—Murari Lal Meena, a minister of state from Pilot’s camp, interrupted the chief minister, asking him to “Please stop bringing up the ‘19’ again and again”, (referring to the 19 Congress MLAs who followed Pilot in his rebellion).