Failing to settle the leadership question in Punjab well in time for the Assembly elections is being seen as the primary reason for the Congress’s defeat. Tensions between the Chief Ministers and the lead contenders for the CM’s chair are threatening to spill over in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two States where the party continues to be in power.
Both the States go to the elections in November–December 2023. After the declaration of results of the five State Assembly elections on March 10, former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan and Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo in Chhattisgarh haven’t made any fresh claim to the top post. But this uneasy truce hardly hides the discord that is renting apart the party.
In Rajasthan, the central leadership claims to have brokered peace between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Mr. Pilot, accommodating Mr. Pilot’s supporters in the Cabinet in the November 2021 reshuffle. While his loyalists got the portfolios of their choice and other important positions in the government, he was not given any responsibility.
Conflicting voices are coming from Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Pilot’s supporters. Rajya Sabha MP Neeraj Dangi told The Hindu that the political situation in Punjab and Rajasthan are not comparable. “In Rajasthan there is no dispute over the leadership. Whatever little grievances that a few MLAs may have had have been settled in the last few months. The next elections will be fought under Mr. Gehlot’s leadership,” Mr. Dangi said.
Mr. Pilot’s supporters aren’t buying this narrative. “We can win the next election only if Mr. Pilot is given the charge. Our government has done good work especially implementing welfare schemes. But if this alone could have won us elections, we wouldn’t have lost in 2008,” Chaksu MLA Ved Solanki said. The timing of the decision is equally crucial, he said. “There are only 17–months remaining. The change in leadership should have come yesterday and even today is too late,” he said.
In Chhattisgarh, Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo has been waiting for former Congress president Rahul Gandhi to come good on his reported promise of rotational tenure which Mr. Deo has claimed was promised to him in 2018. Going by this formula, Mr. Deo was to take over in June 2021. Pursuing this promise, from May 2021 onwards he has twice met party president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and had three meetings with Mr. Gandhi.
He was told to hold off till the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections where Mr. Baghel was entrusted with the role of senior observer. But there has been no signal from the senior leadership. “The party is split down the middle. Anyone seen fraternising with Mr. Deo has to face severe consequences from false police cases to complete non–cooperation from the State administration,” a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.
The central leadership claims that neither Mr. Pilot nor Mr. Deo has a credible claim. “One cannot draw a parallel between the Punjab episode and the two States. Both the Chief Ministers are comfortably placed. They enjoy the support of the majority of the legislators unlike Captain Amarinder Singh,“ a senior party leader in Delhi said.
