Will 'magician' Ashok Gehlot survive his latest Houdini act?

Gehlot understood the move was to replace him with Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan CM and checkmated it, but would he survive now

The Congress' rejuvenation process has got stuck in a quagmire, at least for the present. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has opted out of the contest for the party's president, dragging his party into a mess of significant proportions.

Gehlot is considered a close confidant of interim party president Sonia Gandhi but chose the ambush route to strike and finally had his way. He might have succeeded in retaining his chief ministership for the time being and lost no time in apologising to Sonia Gandhi for the embarrassment caused to her. The fact is he has set the stage for a bigger showdown in the coming weeks.

A loyalist revolting against the party president amid the high-profile and high-octane 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' currently led by Rahul Gandhi and the party president's election is more serious than the failed 'Group 23' revolt. While some of the revolting members have settled down in the party and the formation's leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad, opted to walk out and float a new political party, there was no element of surprise in it. Firstly, Azad and others had gone public with their intentions. Secondly, none of the G23 leaders, including Azad, once close to the Gandhi family, was a member of Sonia Gandhi's inner coterie or her confidant.

Also Read | Rajasthan govt will fall if Sachin Pilot is at the helm, Ashok Gehlot tells Sonia

Gehlot, the magician

"What jaadu (magic) did you do on a tough lady like Mamata (Banerjee)? I thought I was the real magician," Gehlot jocularly remarked recently at a function held in Jaipur to felicitate Jagdeep Dhankhar on his elevation to the Vice President's chair. Dhankhar, a son of the soil, was earlier the governor of West Bengal. Earlier, responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "black magic" jibe targeting Gehlot, the Rajasthan CM said that he was the "permanent jaadugar (magician) in his state", where he has had repeated opportunities to serve the poor, as he urged people to repeat his government in the assembly elections slated for next year.

The self-effacing Gehlot invoked his jaadugar (magician) background to drive home a political point. After all, Gehlot's father, Laxman Singh Gehlot, was a magician who used to travel from place to place to perform magical tricks. But under the circumstances and given his new avatar as a guerilla warrior, or is it the 'Vibhishan' of Ramayana, there is now a question mark whether the party high command can trust him. The question will lurk whether he has something more up his sleeves.

Gehlot's act has erected a wall of distrust between him and the high command. The question that will haunt the AICC corridors after a wily loyalist turned into a rebel through backdoor machinations is whether he would go the Azad way and float his political party before the Rajasthan assembly elections. The truce, which the Congress managers claimed after Gehlot met Sonia Gandhi, is uneasy and unrealistic.

Read | Gehlot ‘magic’ doesn’t work with Sonia, bows out of contest

One test of the truce would be which of the presidential candidates his supporters in the party would back. Will he go along with the wishes of the high command or decide to chart his own course? Although he has declared his intention not to contest the election to the party's president, the possibility of Gehlot further precipitating the situation to remain relevant in the party's decision-making process at the highest level, and to guard his chief ministerial chair, cannot be ruled out,

Gehlot had his plan cut out, for which he created a smokescreen of loyalty, whereby he could rule himself out of the contest for which "his leader" Sonia Gandhi was insistent. At the same time, he ensured his continuity as the Rajasthan CM by simultaneously checkmating his rival Sachin Pilot from replacing him. It is well known that Pilot has the backing of Rahul Gandhi and is part of the latter's plan to develop his team of younger leaders.

In other words, the developments in Rajasthan are a continuation of the ongoing battle over the generational transition, which was first reflected in the Group 23 revolt. However, an insider, a close confidant at that, hitting at a crucial juncture, is what makes this development with the potential to have serious repercussions.

Also Read — Meetings after meetings as Cong looks to resolve crisis

Perhaps the Congress strategists thought that under the garb of presidential elections, they had a chance to deal with Gehlot, the all-powerful chief minister of Rajasthan, and strategically sideline him in favour of Rahul Gandhi's candidate. But they failed to read Gehlot's mind, who quietly planned and executed the coup.

While Gehlot could be justified in taking steps to protect his interests, the rebellion by his loyal MLAs against the party leadership is a perfidious act. Perhaps he read the situation much better than Sonia Gandhi and her strategists. Knowing full well that his refusal to contest the election might not help him achieve his goal of retaining his chair in Jaipur, Gehlot crafted the situation and attacked in a true guerilla warfare style, taking the opponent by surprise.

True to his words, the magician proved his mettle with his sleight of hand. His rivals in the party should better watch out. Who knows what he might next pull out of his hat?

(Anil Anand is a senior journalist)

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)