Ashok Gehlot: ‘Magician’ faces a tricky test in desert state

Ashok Gehlot's political career got a major boost with the blessings of Sanjay Gandhi as Gehlot became the president of NSUI

Last week, as the Rajya Sabha results for Rajasthan trickled in, a beaming Pramod Tiwari from the Congress appeared before the media. “Magician has worked his magic,” he told reporters after he was elected to the Upper House.

Indeed. The Congress was sitting pretty in the state but the BJP decided to fish in the troubled waters of the faction-ridden Congress unit by backing ‘Independent’ candidate Subhash Chandra.

It required all the political astuteness and wizardry of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to thwart the BJP’s bid to rock the Congress boat.

A “victory of democracy”, said Gehlot, wearing a broad smile after having bested the BJP in the Rajasthan cliffhanger.

It was also an important victory for the 71-year-old Gehlot. More than the party, the CM, a trained magician, needed this triumph to keep as he battles an impending threat to the chief minister's chair from Sachin Pilot.

"My resignation is permanently with Sonia Gandhi. When the Congress decides to change the chief minister, no one will get a hint," a visibly annoyed Gehlot said in April when the media was speculating about the change of guard in the state.

Born to well-known magician Babu Lakshman Singh Daksh, Gehlot several times said he would perhaps have followed in the footsteps of his father had he not joined politics, notwithstanding the fact that he has a post-graduate degree in economics and a degree in law.

There are many stories about Gehlot, who hails from the Maali (gardener) community. One of them being that he sold his bike for Rs 4,000 to fund his political activities in the early days.

Whether it is true or not, the party would have lost something had Indira Gandhi not spotted Gehlot first.

His political career got a major boost with the blessings of Sanjay Gandhi as Gehlot became the president of NSUI, the student wing of the Congress, in the state during his time.

He served under Indira as well. (The popular tourist attraction Delhi Haat in the national capital, set up when he was a Union minister in her Cabinet, is thriving to this day).

The bond with the Gandhis only grew stronger as Gehlot cultivated close relationships with Rajiv and later with Sonia, becoming her confidante.

And it shows. While Rahul Gandhi promoted Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan, when it came to the chief minister’s chair, it was the soft-spoken Gehlot who was trusted for the job in 2017, likely due to his trouble-shooting skills and unflinching loyalty to the Gandhis.

Unlike his peers Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, Gehlot is also low-key, a trait that seems to have worked for him. He also refused to hobnob with the G-23 group that embarrassed the Gandhis for a while.

Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai says if Congress insiders are to be believed, Gehlot did perform some magic tricks before Rahul and Sonia on some occasions.

"But while this is not verifiable, there is no doubt that he has kept the Rajasthan unit of Congress under his spell all these years,” says Kidwai.

“Sachin has in fact piloted the first challenge to him in Rajasthan Congress. Whether Pilot will fly high or crash to the ground, only time will tell,” he adds.

Nitin Agarwal, National Coordinator, Congress Social Media, says Gehlot has “expertise in governance and a lot of experience in running the organisation”.

“Ashok Gehlot ji is considered a Chanakya and trouble-shooter of the Congress,” says Agarwal, who hails from Rajasthan.

Many of Gehlot’s colleagues say that he has "done magic" for the Congress party, winning the favour of successive generations of the top leadership.

Post the Rajya Sabha poll, Gehlot loyalists have asserted his strengths, saying the results show his control on politics in the desert state and his relationship with smaller parties that prevented the BJP from poaching MLAs.

In one of the conversations with the media, Gehlot joked saying: "Jaadugar main hoon... Jaadu karte karte main yahan pahuncha hoon. (I am a magician for sure. I have reached here doing magic)".

With age not on his side and Pilot nipping at his heels, does the two-time Union minister and three-time CM have more tricks up his sleeve or will he be put to pasture like Amarinder Singh? The next few months will provide an answer.