At the appointed time of his press conference at 3.30 pm on Thursday, organising general secretary K C Venugopal spoke to the media and said the state candidates and the campaign managers will be named in the first week of September. “All of us are ready to contest the elections unitedly to win the elections defying the anti-incumbency factor as seen in several surveys we carried out,” he said in reply to a question.
Everybody is confident of winning the elections, he said while disclosing that Rahul has preferred to postpone his crucial press conference on Rajasthan for Friday to take some more inputs from the state leaders in Delhi.
Cong top brass on Thursday held the Rajasthan poll preparedness meet, with presiding party chief Mallikarjun Kharge saying the party will go among people unitedly. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot attended the meeting virtually because of his leg injury, Venugopal said.
Top Congress leaders on Thursday held crucial deliberations with the party’s leaders in Rajasthan on the poll strategy and preparedness, while also seeking to resolve the tussle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot.
Posting a video from the meeting, Congress chief Kharge said on Twitter that with public service, relief and upliftment of all, Rajasthan was on the path of progress. The party will unitedly go among the people in the upcoming elections.
The meeting took a major decision to fight the Rajasthan elections under chief minister Gehlot’s leadership as Rahul Gandhi bridged the gap between Gehlot and Sachin Pilot with the power sharing formula, not yet disclosed.
After the key party meeting, Sachin Pilot said the Rajasthan Congress remains united and there is no question of a split. Pilot said: “We all have only one group — the Rahul Gandhi-Mallikarjun Kharge group.” At the meeting top Congress leaders praised the Gehlot government. They also asked him to take strict action in cases of Dalit atrocities.
The top leadership of the Congress party gathered at the party headquarters in Delhi to strategize for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly Elections. The meeting saw the presence of Sachin Pilot, who has been embroiled in a rift with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, along with other state leaders. The aim of the meeting was to address the ongoing conflict between Gehlot and Pilot, which has posed a challenge for the party.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Randhawa, Sachin Pilot, and senior leaders from Rajasthan attended the meeting. Chief Minister Gehlot, who is currently undergoing treatment for a fractured toe, participated via video conferencing.
“As many as 29 leaders from the Rajasthan Congress, including the CM and PCC chief participated in this meeting on Thursday. All the leaders unanimously decided that Congress can win the Rajasthan elections provided there is unity among Rajasthan Congress. Today, all the leaders decided to fight the elections unitedly. The candidates will be selected on the basis of winning ability. The list of candidates will be announced in the first week of September,” Venugopal said.
Kharge has been leading crucial strategy meetings with leaders from states heading towards elections. Prior to the Rajasthan meeting, he had already held separate meetings with leaders from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram. The spotlight is on Rajasthan as the Congress aims to break the trend of incumbent parties losing power. However, the Gehlot-Pilot conflict has complicated matters for the party ahead of the assembly polls scheduled for later this year.
During an event commemorating his father’s death anniversary, Sachin Pilot expressed his commitment to fighting for justice on behalf of the people. He has criticized the Gehlot-led government for alleged inaction on corruption charges against the previous BJP government. Pilot has also called for the dissolution and reconstitution of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and definitive action for victims of leaked job examination papers.
Interestingly, just two days before the strategy meeting, Gehlot announced the government’s plan to introduce a bill in the next assembly session, aiming to increase the punishment for individuals involved in leaked recruitment exam papers from 10 years to life imprisonment. In an attempt to ease tensions, Congress President Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held extensive discussions separately with Gehlot and Pilot in May. They later posed for photographs together at Kharge’s residence.
Following these meetings, Congress general secretary KK Venugopal stated that Gehlot and Pilot had agreed to “fight the upcoming assembly elections together” and left the resolution of their issues to the party high command. Gehlot and Pilot have been engaged in a power struggle since the Congress formed the government in Rajasthan in 2018. In 2020, Pilot led a rebellion against the Gehlot government, resulting in his removal from key positions within the state administration.
In 2002, an attempt by the party’s high command to bring about a leadership change in Rajasthan failed as Gehlot loyalists prevented a legislature party meeting from taking place. Last month, despite warnings from the party, Pilot organized a day-long fast to target Gehlot over alleged corruption during the previous government’s tenure led by Vasundhara Raje.
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