The victory will help the Rajasthan CM cement his credibility before the Congress high command. For the BJP, it’s a lot of homework ahead of the 2023 assembly polls
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has led the Congress to wins in three Rajya Sabha seats in his state in what was a bitterly fought election. The Congress was assured of winning two seats comfortably. It had the numbers (126 MLAs) to win the third seat as well, given the support from Independents and the six BSP MLAs who joined the party in the past. However, the BJP decided to back media baron Subhash Chandra, an independent candidate, despite not having enough numbers. Chandra had claimed he would gain from cross-voting but that did not happen. Instead, one BJP MLA, Shobha Rani Kushwah, voted for the Congress.
The BJP had decided to put its weight behind Chandra apparently without taking into confidence its senior Rajasthan leaders like Vasundhara Raje and Gulab Chand Kataria. As state BJP chief Satish Poonia puts it, the party’s strategy troubled Gehlot so much that he was forced to keep his MLAs ‘safe’ in resorts. This is the third time in the past two years that the Rajasthan chief minister has had to shift his MLAs to luxury hotels to prevent poaching by rivals. Gehlot was wary that the BJP would go to any extent to win over some of his MLAs.
A defeat in the third seat, for which the ruling Congress had fielded Pramod Tiwari, a veteran from Uttar Pradesh, could have put a question mark on the majority numbers of the Gehlot government. Besides, Gehlot’s opponents within the party would have got an opportunity to question him. In 2020, it was during the Rajya Sabha polls that Congress leader Sachin Pilot had staged an unsuccessful coup against him in 2020.
In the end, along with Randeep Surjewala and Mukul Wasnik, Gehlot succeeded in ensuring a win for Tiwari too. This will help him cement his credibility further in the eyes of the Congress high command given that the party failed to get a senior like Ajay Maken into the Rajya Sabha from Haryana. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing for Gehlot as some of the independent MLAs and those who had joined from the BSP had openly rebelled before the Rajya Sabha polls. Even some Congress MLAs had expressed resentment. The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) had issued a whip asking its two MLAs not to vote for Congress candidates.
The anger among the non-Congress MLAs supporting the Gehlot government is understandable since Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, apparently under pressure from Pilot, has not allowed Gehlot to reward them with official positions for saving his government during the coup in 2020. Now, Gehlot is expected to convey to the high command how crucial it is to keep these supporting MLAs on his side if the government has to survive till the next assembly polls in December 2023.
Gehlot has reportedly interacted with these MLAs actively and assured them Congress tickets in the next elections—a move Pilot will dislike. Pilot has held a few public meetings of late to keep himself relevant to the masses and the high command. There is a likelihood of Gehlot going for a ministerial reshuffle in the months to come to accommodate his loyalists.
For the BJP, it is again a loss of face after its dismal performance in Rajasthan assembly bypolls over the last three years. That BJP’s failure again to keep its flock together should make the high command give a serious thought to revamping the faction-ridden party organisation in Rajasthan. It is true that Gehlot’s strategy of moving his MLAs to hotels does not send out a message of confidence to the masses but, as they say, the winner takes it all.
