AICC General Secretary in charge of Congress in Rajasthan, Ajay Maken seems to have worsened and complicated the matter for the party in the state. After failing to control the situation, Maken’s image suffered yet another setback.
Rajasthan’s situation was bordering on what happened in Punjab and Delhi. It is the Congress legislators who finally came to rescue. After the truth came to the fore, all the senior leaders and the Gandhi family’s loyalist Sam Pitroda intervened and defended Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. All of them were of the view that the majority should not be ignored. That is why Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi decided to meet Gehlot on Thursday. The final picture will be clear on the presidential election only after this meeting.
However, Maken is being blamed, and rightly so, for whatever happened in Rajasthan over the last few days. Sources say that Maken could have prevented the situation from worsening if he had even a bit of political understanding. Amid the crisis, Maken on the contrary tried to somehow get the “one line resolution” passed.
After this, Maken’s role is now under suspicion. The question is why Maken was so adamant on passing “the resolution”. He got angry when MLAs refused to entertain any resolution. He did not even meet the Chief Minister, while senior leader Mallikarjuna Kharge lent Gehlot a patient hearing before returning to Delhi. Both Maken and Kharge had been appointed as observers by the leadership to douse the Rajasthan crisis.
In fact, the MLAs’ anger was justifiable, given some revelations that took them by surprise later. They wondered how the Sachin Pilot’s faction knew about the CLP meeting quite before, whereas CM, PCC chief and chief whip were unaware of this meeting. There was a buzz that the swearing-in of a new CM will take place on 27-28 September. That’s not all, the MLAs were told in a threatening tone that they would not remain ministers after 28 September.
The banners reading, “Naye Yug ki Shuruvat” were seen at various places in the state. It is said that Sachin also called some MLAs to inform them that he was going to be the CM. The media also played its role in all that was happening, by almost confirming the transition of power in Jaipur. The MLAs were also a bit nervous at one point of time. Two years ago when the operation to topple the government was underway, these MLAs remained united and thwarted the ‘Operation Lotus’. They had outright turned down “the bribe of Rs 25-30 crore”, sources claimed.
So, this time round the MLAs were upset with the high command trusting Sachin Pilot despite his involvement in anti-party activities. As a result, these legislators boycotted the CLP meeting, and submitted their resignations to the Speaker. Their demand was that none of “the rebels” should be given the CM post. The opposition got an opportunity to tarnish the image of Gehlot, who has been the most trusted leader of the Gandhi family.
AICC general secretary in-charge of organisation, K.C. Venugopal has said on Wednesday that the situation will be normal in Rajasthan in the next couple of days. Hopefully, the situation will be normal after the nomination process for Congress the presidential poll. But Maken’s role in the entire development will continue to be questioned.
The party suffered a massive existential crisis in Delhi when Congress was being led by Maken.
The party’s miserable condition is no secret in Punjab where he was sent as an
in-charge of the state. He could not give the factual information about Rajasthan leading to worsening of the crisis there. All eyes will now be on what steps the party takes in days to come.