The highlight of the debate were two significant interventions by Sachin Pilot, whose seating has been changed since he was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister.
Jaipur, August 14:
The Congress government of Ashok Gehlot won a trust vote in the Rajasthan assembly today, capping weeks of turmoil over a rebel crisis that had pushed it to the verge of collapse. The vote took place a day after Ashok Gehlot’s patch-up with sacked deputy Sachin Pilot, who ended his rebellion against the Chief Minister earlier this week. Mr Gehlot, having established his majority in the assembly, has won a six-month reprieve. Just before the session started, he had tweeted: “It would be the victory of the people of #Rajasthan and the unity of our Congress MLAs, it would be a victory of truth: Satyamev Jayate.”
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The highlight of the debate were two significant interventions by Sachin Pilot, whose seating has been changed since he was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister. Mr Pilot has been assigned a second row seat closer to the opposition than the government benches. “Now I am next to the opposition. I have been sent to the sarhad (border). That is because only the bravest and strongest warrior is sent to the border,” he said, responding to digs from the BJP.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot lashed out at the BJP, saying its one-point agenda was to topple governments at a time the country is fighting the coronavirus. Opening the debate, state minister Shanti Kumar Dhariwal said: Ashok Gehlot taught the BJP a lesson in Rajasthan. We did not allow a Goa or Madhya Pradesh to happen here.” He also quipped, without taking names, that the term “modus operandi” had become “Modi’s operandi”.
The Gehlot camp received a big boost after Sachin Pilot, who had rebelled against the Chief Minister in early July, returned to the fold. Mr Gehlot and Mr Pilot greeted each other with a handshake and flashed victory signs before they sat together for a meeting of Congress MLAs, the first since the return of 19 rebels.
Mr Gehlot has the support of 125 MLAs, far more than the majority-mark of 101 in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly. Before the rebels returned, he had 102. He made it a point to let the rebels know that he would have won even without their support.
The BJP has 72 MLAs and the support of three more, hardly enough to challenge Mr Gehlot on the floor of the house. The party, after announcing it would ask for a no-confidence motion, has changed its plan.
The BJP’s earlier strategy was to force a discussion in the assembly to corner the Gehlot government on various issues, including the coronavirus crisis. The plan was also to bring out the rift within the Congress in the assembly. The party believes the Congress truce is only temporary.
Soon after the Congress announced its truce with 19 rebels, the BJP had declared that it was “reworking its strategy”. A meeting on Tuesday was also cancelled. That meeting took place on Thursday, and top leaders, including BJP’s Rajasthan powerhouse Vasundhara Raje attended it.
Six MLAs who shifted from Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to the Congress were seen sitting with the ruling Congress, indicating that they may vote with the state government in defiance of their party chief Mayawati.
The BSP has ordered the MLAs to vote against the Congress government and has warned of action if they defy the whip. The MLAs can participate in the vote after the Supreme Court refused to intervene on a BJP MLA’s petition for a temporary freeze on the merger.
BSP chief Mayawati had last month said that she was looking to teach Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot a “a lesson” for “theft of MLAs”. But she has been denied her moment of revenge for now, with Team Pilot’s return.
