In addition to fighting the BJP, the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have also been engaged in an internal conflict. The Indian National Congress should have been able to celebrate in December 2018. With six months till a national election, it has seized three significant states from the BJP: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. This was despite the BJP being in a strong position. From the days after the results’ announcement were anything but easy, with several politicians vying for the position of Chief Minister and unwilling to give ground. Even after winning, the party was not at all cohesive.
In many ways, decisions made nearly four years ago, including an indecisive high command, “collective leadership” rather than clear lines of authority, and a state unit in constant strife, with unmistakable similarities to events in Chhattisgarh, are what led to the crisis that has played out in Rajasthan over the past two days.
In many ways, decisions made nearly four years ago, including an indecisive high command, “collective leadership” rather than clear lines of authority, and a state unit in constant strife, with unmistakable similarities to events in Chhattisgarh, are what led to the crisis that has played out in Rajasthan over the past two days.
2018 saw two strong candidates for the top position in both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Ashok Gehlot, a former chief minister of Rajasthan, was wise and experienced. He had connections across the party board and, more crucially, within the state.
Much youthful, stylish, and well-spoken Sachin Pilot, a well-known figure in Delhi, was his intra-party competitor. Pilot was appointed state party chairman following the 2013 defeat of the Congress, and his claim was based on a revival of the party that he claimed to have spearheaded.
In Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, an OBC from the plains of the state, was on one side and served as the party’s leader following the void caused by the deaths of Vidya Charan Shukla, Nand Kumar Patel, and Mahendra Karma (they were killed in a Maoist attack in 2013)
On the other was TS Singhdeo, from the royal family of Surguja, with influence in North Chhattisgarh. Erudite and soft spoken, his supporters claim he was the man behind a well-received people’s manifesto for the 2018 elections that helped the party’s decimation of the BJP.
The Congress waffled and acted for days on end in both states. In a tense, disorganised exercise, each MLA in Chhattisgarh was asked for their “opinion” in a hotel in Raipur. In the end, in Chhattisgarh, Baghel eventually became Chief Minister, but with a caveat, Singhdeo supporters have always argued, that it was to be a split-leadership, and that the latter would take over two and a half years later. The timeline was less clear in Rajasthan, but those close to Pilot have always argued that he was made a similar promise too.
