New Delhi: The Congress is going all out to save its government in Rajasthan. The MLAs belonging to the Gehlot camp have been shifted to Jaisalmer to avoid any poaching attempts and to keep the flock together.
But the reason why Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is able to hold the fort is strong backing from the Congress central leadership, with even leaders like former Union Minister P Chidambaram pitching in to pacify sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot .Responding to a question Chidambaram said that he did speak to Pilot earlier but for the last two weeks he hasn’t spoken to him.
“The sole objective of the central leadership is that the Congress government strongly serves the people of Rajasthan for the next five years” said Congress spokesperson Shergill.
The challenge for the Congress is to keep the pressure on the Sachin Pilot camp till the assembly convenes and the Congress goes for the floor test. The Congress is wary of losing a second elected government after Madhya Pradesh where the party’s complacency cost them the government.
Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, “Legally, politically and mathematically the Rajasthan Congress government is unbreakable and unshakable.”
In the tussle within the party and with the BJP the Rajasthan Chief Minister has emerged as a fighter. He is now being helped by the central leadership.
The legal luminaries of the party Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal have been in the forefront of the legal fight in the Rajasthan High Court and in the Supreme Court. On the advice of the legal team the Rajasthan Congress Chief Whip moved the apex court against the Rajasthan High Court directive.
The party is also trying to woo away many MLAs in the Pilot camp and their family members are being persuaded to ask them to return to the party fold, said sources.
Former law ministers in the UPA regime at the Centre wrote to the Rajasthan Governor. The letter signed by Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Ashwani Kumar said that “the delay in convening the special session of the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha as decided and advised by the council of ministers has resulted in an avoidable constitutional impasse.”
The Congress even attacked the Governor for delaying the assembly session and said that the Governor is behaving like the timekeeper of Operation Lotus rather than the gatekeeper of the Constitution. The BJP after failing in its money and muscle power is blatantly using Governor Power.
