At last the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan won the confidence motion in the state assembly. It was seen that the fight was between the BJP and Congress but at the end it was the fight between certain personalities in both the parties. At the time of formation of the new ministry in the state, Ashok Gehlot accepted Sachin Pilot as his deputy chief minister and he was PCC chief at that time. In the last 18 months, Gehlot was ignoring Sachin. While Gehlot spent Rs 27 crore from the government for his publicity, not a paisa was sanctioned for Pilot. As Gehlot retained Home and finance ministry, he ensured that no funds were released for Pilot’s departments and he was not allowed to choose his own staff. Therefore the fight between Gehlot and Sachin Pilot started from the first day of formation of Ashok Gehlot govt. Even after the intervention of Congress high command Gehlot accepted Sachin Pilot but not with the heart as well as Sachin did not accept Ashok Gehlot as a leader. On the other hand, in BJP former chief minister Vasundhra Raje Scindia was ignored by the high command and state BJP chief Satish Punia and central minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was given command for dislodging the Gehlot government. As a result, the move taken by Punia and Gajendra was damaged by Vasundhra Raje Scindia. Ashok Gehlot was thus confident that even Pilot and his MLA’s do not support his government, Gehlot will show his majority in the house due to the proximity with Vasundhra Raje. According to BJP sources, there are 48 MLA’s of BJP from total of 72 MLA’s are loyal to Vasundhra .The Maharani has emerged stronger from the battle and she will make her bid to become the BJP candidate for chief ministership, thereby making the battle in BJP now more interesting.
ALL IS NOT WELL IN NITISH KUMAR LED NDA ALLIANCE BEFORE POLLS IN BIHAR
The date of Bihar assembly election is not announced but all the political parties are busy in preparations and virtual campaigning but i-comparison to Opposition parties, the ruling party especially JD(U) seems to be more active. At the same time, the alliance partners are fighting with each other strongly especially Ram Vilas Paswan of Lok Janshakti Party and JD(U). While JD(U) is not ready to accept LJP in its alliance and MP Chirag Paswan is criticizing the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and does not want the assembly election till covid-19 is ended but Nitish Kumar wants the election on time. Meanwhile BJP cleared that Nitish will be the face of alliance. Chirag Paswan also wants to become chief minister and has declared that BJP has assured him that LJP will fight on 42 seats in the total of 243 seats. Although Chirag Paswan is regularly criticizing Nitish Kumar on every issue whether Corona, law and order situation in Bihar but Nitish has never reacted on Chirag’s criticism. JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said that LJP has an agreement with BJP so he should demand seats for his party from BJP and should not criticize his own alliance government especially the chief minister.
CONGRESS FACING INTERNAL PROBLEMS IN MAHARASHTRA AND JHARKHAND
After Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, it is now the turn of Congress government in Punjab and coalition governments in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. While Punjab is better placed as the BJP has no clout there and the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is in full command. Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the Congress is jittery. The unease of the general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, Mallikarjun Kharge is rising as his movements are restricted because of age and health issues. Kharge rarely visits Maharashtra and the latest allegation against him is that he cannot take everybody together. Many Maharashtra leaders have already asked for the appointment of a new and more active general secretary. According to Congress sources, Kharge may replace Ghulam Nabi Azad as the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha in the coming months making it easier for the high command to relieve him. In Jharkhand, the in-charge RPN Singh has several critics who have started complaining to the central leadership. RPN has of late created enemies in the high command structure too, making his position even less secure.
SENIOR LEADERS MAY FINALLY ACCEPT RAHUL GANDHI AS CONGRESS PRESIDENT
After so many meetings, the election of Congress president is still not decided. According to party sources, the whole party is now divided into two groups- youth brigade and old guards. Youth leaders still want Rahul Gandhi should become the party president but some of the young leaders criticize Rahul Gandhi for not taking the issue up to the end and not taking decision at proper time. Some of them want that Rahul Gandhi should not always criticise Narendra Modi but all youth leaders want Rahul Gandhi as the party president. Seeing this, old leaders who are close to Sonia Gandhi came out with the view that they are ready to support Rahul Gandhi if he does not create a parallel youth group which do not respect the elders. With the old leaders support, Rahul and Priyanka resolved the Sachin Pilot issue. Everybody has welcomed the decision and now the young and old leaders are openly supporting Rahul Gandhi for the post of Congress president and hope that it will be declared soon.
DMK CADRES IN TAMIL NADU DO NOT LIKE PRASHANT KISHOR
Protests are mounting from DMK cadres over MK Stalin hiring pollster Prashant Kishor as consultant. The objection was simply to taking orders from Kishor, a Bihari from the north. Party workers have since discovered that many in Kishor’s team, over 700 are also not from the state. (IPA)