Raje Has A Big Fight On Her Hands

With a young and untainted Sachin pilot at its helm, the Congress seems to be pressing home its advantage.

Since 2003, Rajasthan has witnessed a straight contest between the Congress and the BJP with Ashok Gehlot and Vasundhara Raje taking turns to run the state. The story of the upcoming polls in December seems no different, though there may be a twist. The state BJP is grappling with infighting and Raje’s own tussle with party president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the Congress front, there is a significant difference this time with Sachin Pilot, as the Pradesh Congress Committee president, throwing a challenge at both Raje and Gehlot.

Pilot is being seen as someone who has rejuvenated the party and Congressmen alienated during Gehlot’s three decades at the helm of the party in the state, thus raising hopes of it making a crucial comeback after a disastrous performance in the last assembly polls when it got 21 seats in the 200-member assembly and the general elections when it failed to win even one out of the 25 seats. Also, Pilot’s strategy of highlighting the Raje government’s failures in key areas seems to be more effective than Gehlot’s preferred strategy of ‘personal’ attacks on the CM.

All this has apparently made Gehlot and his loyalists nervous. And sensing groupism within the party, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has asked Pilot to ensure that he takes Gehlot along, at least publicly. As the Congress puts up a united front, the talking point in the state is, who will be the next CM—Gehlot or Pilot—implying that the party may win this election.