Congress' along with other Opposition parties have just one motto — BJP-mukt Bharat in 2024. For this, the first and foremost thing which the grand old party has to do is get its own house in order by ending all the internal feuds in all state units and winning states - namely Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan which will go to polls in upcoming months.
Congress on Wednesday appointed TS Singh Deo deputy chief minister of Chhattisgarh. A move that can prove to be a masterstroke for the Congress in upcoming Assembly elections. TS Singh Deo, who was handling several ministries including the Health Ministry in the state government, never looked Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in the eye. A fight which had now stretched for more than 4 years. It was repeatedly said that the high command had made Bhupesh Baghel the Chief Minister under the formula of two and a half years, but he was not removed even after two and a half years. However, by making him the deputy chief minister, the Congress just not managed to placate one of the disgruntled leaders but also gave sleepless nights to the BJP, which was looking to make the infighting a poll issue.
Placating Sachin Pilot
Rajasthan has been a headache for Congress for quite some time now where the power tussle between Sachin Pilot and CM Ashok Gehlot just refuses to die. Dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot has even hit the streets and has been attacking Ashok Gehlot over alleged inaction into charges of corruption levelled by him against the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP dispensation. Despite repeated meetings with the high command and reassurances from the state in-charge Venugopal, all doesn't seem well in the state. The political condition worsened after there was intense speculation over Sachin Pilot floating his own party on his father Rajesh Pilot's death anniversary. Congress leader K.C. Venugopal with party leaders Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot after a meeting at party President Mallikarjun Kharge's residence
So, to calm the angry leader will Congress high-command make him the deputy chief minister and bestow him with some real administrative powers? It is noteworthy to mention here that Pilot was removed from the party post as well as the deputy chief minister post in 2020 after he led a revolt against the Gehlot government. However, the bigger concern for Congress here is that will Sachin Pilot agree to the arrangement. The answer is almost NO.
Ironically, Pilot even wished Deo on his elevation through a tweet.
Sachin Pilot has been eyeing the CM chair for a long now. So much so that, in 2022 Pilot held parleys with party MLAs and a long discussion with the Speaker Dr C P Joshi over the vacancy of CM chair. This was the time when Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot decided to file his nomination papers for Congress' top post.
Pilot even launched a 125-kilometre foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur and named it Jan Sangarsh Yatra, a move which was seen as a direct challenge to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the Congress top brass ahead of the assembly elections in Rajasthan.Congress leader Sachin Pilot with supporters during his Jan Sangharsh Yatra
So now, it remains to be seen that like Chhattisgarh, will Congress be able to get a truce between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot and finally end the ever-going feud in the Rajasthan camp. Because only then is the grand old party able to focus on a bigger target — to stop the BJP juggernaut.
