Sachin Pilot steps in to rescue revolt-hit Gujarat Congress

The Congress seems to have tasked Sachin Pilot, the Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister, to ensure that Gujarat Congress does not follow the footsteps of Madhya Pradesh unit. Sachin Pilot met the Congress MLAs from Gujarat in Jaipur’s Shiv Vilas hotel on Tuesday as the party frantically tried to keep its flock together ahead of the Rajya Sabha election.

The Congress had on Monday completed shifting 67 of its 68 MLAs from Gujarat to the Rajasthan capital. Five of the Congress MLAs have already resigned and the Congress, in reaction, suspended them. The party originally had 73 MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly.

PTI on Monday reported that the one Congress MLA was unreachable to the party. Jitu Chaudhary has kept his mobile phones switched off and remained incommunicado.

Intervention of Sachin Pilot in Gujarat Congress crisis is significant in the view that focus had shifted on him following the rebellion of Jyotiraditya Scindia who recently quit the Congress along with 22 party MLAs in Madhya Pradesh. Scindia joined the BJP and got a Rajya Sabha nomination. The rebellion in Madhya Pradesh also cost the Congress a Rajya Sabha seat in the election scheduled for March 26.

Scindia and Pilot were considered close in the Congress and part of Team Rahul. Both had been sulking in their respective states – Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – where the Congress snatched power from the BJP in the 2018 assembly elections. Both had to sacrifice their chief ministerial ambitions to accommodate the old guard – Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot respectively.

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While Pilot got the post of deputy CM, Scindia was pushed to the margins. Both had gone in public criticizing the incumbent chief ministers. Scindia quit and the focus was on Pilot, who too was reportedly feeling uncomfortable with the current state of affairs in the party.

Meanwhile, another rebellion broke out in the Congress with five MLAs tendering resignations in two days. This meant the Congress cannot win more than one of the four Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs in Gujarat.

The Congress looked up to Rajasthan to bring order in the chaotic house of Gujarat Congress. Ashok Gehlot is a veteran in the Congress. But Sachin Pilot was entrusted with the responsibility to ensure that there is no more breach in the Congress’s dam.

This may have a ripple effect in Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot could be the potential rallying point for such a rebellion in the Rajasthan Congress, which has been edgy ever since Gehlot failed to win a single seat for the party from the state in 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Sachin Pilot coming to meet the Congress MLAs from Gujarat is likely to soothe the nerves of the disillusioned party leaders from the neighbouring state. This appears to be the Congress’s attempt to assert that Scindia was an exception.

The last Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat in 2017 had seen similar pattern of reisngations, and more defection through cross voting. The Congress fears cross voting by its MLAs this time as well.

Earlier, the Congress was sure of winning two seats in the Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat. It needed 74 votes for that which became possible after Independent MLA Jignesh Mewani announced his support. As a result, the Congress fielded senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki for the Rajya Sabha election.

The BJP too had announced two candidates, Abhay Bhardwaj and Ramila Bara initially. In a last-minute announcement, the BJP named Narhari Amin, who was earlier with the Congress, as its third candidate. What followed was a slew of resignations. To win three Rajya Sabha seats, the BJP needs 111 votes. It has 103 of its own.