The Ashok Gehlot camp has overtly accused the veteran chief of being biased in the direction of Sachin Pilot, the one man unacceptable to them as the brand new chief minister of Rajasthan.
Whereas that will simply be one purpose why Maken and the opposite chief despatched by Delhi as observer, Mallikarjun Kharge, stored ready for a Congress Legislature Celebration (CLP) assembly that didn’t occur, Congress leaders within the state say Maken failed constantly to resolve the cracks within the state unit because the August 2020 Pilot insurrection.
1) The newest fiasco
The excessive command is believed to have communicated to Sachin Pilot its intention to nominate him as CM, with Gehlot set to turn into the brand new Congress president. Pilot, in flip, began calling up MLAs, telling them a couple of CLP meet. With the Gehlot facet not listening to about it first, his loyalist MLAs acquired spooked. Congress leaders say that ideally, either side – and particularly Gehlot camp MLAs – ought to have been taken into confidence by Maken, as the overall secretary in-charge of the state, earlier than Pilot was floated as Delhi’s alternative, notably given the unhealthy blood between him and Gehlot.
“It was his job to verify the information landed easily, and Pilot may have been requested to maintain it below wraps,” a supply stated.
Maken additionally clearly misinterpret what number of MLAs supported Gehlot, and the way few have been with Pilot.
One purpose for that is that Maken presumed that with Sonia Gandhi’s blessing to the facility change in Jaipur, the MLAs would fall in line – as they do within the social gathering. Nevertheless, Gehlot is a unique kettle of fish, being at present one of many Congress’s tallest leaders, who had already let it’s recognized that he needed a say in who replaces him.
Sources stated that as he headed for the CLP, “Maken was warned by some nationwide leaders concerning the brewing hassle in Jaipur. However he got here with a stick in his hand to implement the excessive command’s resolution.”
2) Inaccessibility and bias
Celebration leaders in Rajasthan usually complain that Maken, whose politics has centred round Delhi, is inaccessible. That is in contrast to the tradition in Jaipur the place, maybe bar the CM of the day – that too sometimes – everybody else is definitely accessible.
It was Parliamentary Affairs Minister and staunch Gehlot loyalist Shanti Dhariwal who, within the wake of the open defiance by Gehlot camp MLAs of the excessive command, accused Maken of not simply being biased however really asking MLAs to “publicise” Pilot’s identify as CM.
“It was 100 per cent a conspiracy. And the overall secretary in-charge (of Rajasthan) was part of it. It’s my cost towards the overall secretary that he was speaking partially with the MLAs right here. He used to inform MLAs to publicise Sachin Pilot’s identify, we’ve got proof of the identical,” Dhariwal stated.
Later, he advised The Indian Categorical that Maken had been “biased” and “in favour of Pilot” for a very long time.
As leaders in Rajasthan inform you, this could not have gone unnoticed by Gehlot who, they are saying with out exaggeration, “has ears all over the place”. And who strikes clinically and quietly, giving rivals little inkling.
3) The 2020 after-taste
Gehlot’s skill to assume two steps forward of his rivals was evident within the 2020 insurrection by Pilot, when the outdated fox not simply outsmarted the younger usurper by saving his authorities, however by rallying the Congress MLAs overwhelmingly behind him, shut out any lingering ambitions the latter could have had – until now, that’s. Within the course of, Pilot additionally misplaced each his place of Deputy CM and PCC chief.
Maken was appointed within the wake of this disaster, after the Pilot camp accused then Congress state in-charge Avinash Pande of “bias”. Maken’s transient was to “ease the tensions” between the Gehlot and Pilot camps, and implement a excessive command-brokered settlement.
One approach to this was to be by political appointments, cupboard growth, and so forth, accommodating Pilot’s individuals. Nevertheless, Gehlot resisted the identical for one-and-a-half lengthy years. Over this era, there was hypothesis each few weeks or months in Rajasthan {that a} Cupboard growth could occur “quickly” — “simply after” an area physique ballot or Meeting bypoll acquired over, or the second Covid wave waned, or Gehlot’s well being improved.
Maken may give solely evasive replies as to why the promised resolution wasn’t materialising. Together with Ahmed Patel and Ok C Venugopal, he was a part of the staff tasked with implementing the settlement. With Patel’s demise in November 2020 and Venugopal involved with different nationwide affairs of the social gathering, the accountability primarily fell on Maken’s shoulders; in the meantime, the Pilot camp’s restlessness grew, mounting strain on him.
Congress leaders additionally marvel on the alternative of Maken if the concept was to get Gehlot to compromise. There is no such thing as a comparability between the 2 on the subject of stature, they level out – although, given the dearth of tall leaders in its ranks, the Congress could not have been left with a lot of a alternative. So, Maken may actually by no means get Gehlot to do what the latter didn’t need.
“Right here, the social gathering excessive command may have intervened and appointed a veteran to exchange the late Ahmed Patel, however it was enterprise as ordinary. Gehlot’s defiance undermining his authority would naturally have left Maken displeased,” a supply stated.
4) The Rajya Sabha seat
The Gehlot camp believes that Maken was extra favourably positioned in the direction of Pilot due to lingering anger over being denied a Rajya Sabha berth from Rajasthan within the June 2022 polls. “Maken needed to contest from Rajasthan, the place it was safer, than Haryana. However Gehlot insisted on Haryana chief Randeep Surjewala somewhat than Maken. So Maken contested from Haryana, and misplaced,” a frontrunner stated.
5) The countdown
The Gehlot camp claims Maken deliberate that the CLP would merely go a one-line decision authorising the excessive command to select the CM, and that it will find yourself being Pilot. Maken, nevertheless, insists he and Kharge have been prepared to satisfy everybody individually.
“Ajay Maken ji is right that raishumari (session, with MLAs) is completed individually. However was raishumari the agenda of the CLP assembly? Was it on the agenda that there might be raishumari about altering the CM? If it wasn’t so, then why are allegations being levelled towards me that we stated that we’ll meet in teams? The CLP assembly is held as a bunch,” stated Speaker C P Joshi.
Dhariwal additionally denied that Maken needed to satisfy everybody individually, saying he simply needed to implement a one-line decision. One other approach out may have been for Maken to say that he would communicate to the MLAs first earlier than the CLP assembly, however that too didn’t occur.
As soon as the Gehlot camp MLAs had assembled at Dhariwal’s home somewhat than heading for the CM residence the place the CLP assembly was deliberate, Maken once more confirmed little tact in dealing with what was a fait accompli. As a substitute of attempting to resolve the problems internally, he went to city blasting Gehlot in Jaipur, after which in Delhi.
Earlier than heading for Delhi, Maken even refused to satisfy Gehlot when he reached the resort the place Kharge and he have been staying. Kharge, in distinction, met the CM.