Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot received praise from an unlikely quarter after announcing that he will not contest the Congress presidential elections on Thursday, in wake of the political showdown in his state over the past few days. BJP leader Amit Malviya called Gehlot a “consummate politician” for saving himself from being “remote-controlled”.
On Twitter, the BJP leader listed out five reasons why the chief minister was the better for pulling back from the race to become the national president of the grand old party.
Here are the reasons as tweeted by Malviya:
- Retained CM post
- Saved himself from the “embarrassment of being a remote controlled CP (Congress president)”
- “Checkmated” (Sachin) Pilot, again
- Keeps option of breaking the Congress in Rajasthan and contesting 2023
- Shred “aura of invincibility around SG (Sonia Gandhi)”.
Ashok Gehlot is a consummate politician:
– retained his CMship
– saved himself from the embarrassment of being a remote controlled CP
– checkmated Pilot, again
– keeps the option of breaking the Congress in Rajasthan and contesting 2023
– shred the aura of invincibility around SG— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 29, 2022
While the reason behind the sudden praise was not clear, Malviya said Gehlot had not only retained the post of CM but also saved himself from the embarrassment of becoming a remote-controlled Congress president, in an obvious dig at the Gandhis.
Malviya further said not only had Gehlot proven to be a consummate politician but he had “checkmated” Pilot yet again, in a reference to the government crisis in 2020 when the rebel leader challenged Gehlot for the post of CM and lost.
He further said Gehlot had managed to shred the “aura of invincibility” around interim party president Sonia Gandhi. Moreover, he “keeps the option of breaking the Congress in Rajasthan and contesting 2023 (assembly elections)”, Malviya added.
Tipped to be the next Congress national president till last week, Gehlot earlier said he will not be contesting the presidential polls as taking “moral responsibility” for the political crisis in his state. He also said the decision if he will remain CM will be taken by Sonia Gandhi.
“I won’t contest these elections in this atmosphere, with moral responsibility,” he said, adding he had only decided to put his name in the race after Rahul Gandhi refused to contest.
“I met Rahul Gandhi in Kochi and requested him to fight the polls (for Congress President). When he didn’t accept, I said I’ll contest but now with that incident, I’ve decided not to contest the elections,” he said.
On his future, however, as the chief minister, he said he could not decide that and only Sonia Gandhi will have a say. “I won’t decide that, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will decide that,” he added.
Gehlot further said he had apologised to Sonia Gandhi for the developments last week, when MLAs supporting him defied the central observers and thwarted their move to hold a meeting of party legislators. Instead, they held a parallel meet to pitch for Gehlot’s continuation or the guarantee that his bete noire Pilot does not replace him.
Gehlot, a three-time CM of Rajasthan, described himself as a disciplined soldier of the party and expressed his sadness over the turn of events in the state.
As of now, senior leader Digvijaya Singh and Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor are likely to file their nominations for the post of party president. The two met and agreed that theirs is “not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest”.
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