Pilot, Raje keep suspense quotient up in Rajasthan's political soap

Jaipur, Dec 26 (IANS) The great political story of Rajasthan has become quite interesting with continued suspense and speculations rife over the next role of former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Will they be back or not? This has been a million dollar question over the last many months as political whispers remain abuzz on the next role of these leaders who are simply holding the MLA posts currently.

While Pilot was made the deputy Chief Minister in 2018 following the Assembly polls, his portfolios were snatched after he and 18 other MLAs staged a rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

He was however, brought back to the party's fold later with a promise to be given a decent portfolio.

Since then, the Congress as an organisation has been giving subsequent dates, but nothing has been materialised. Pilot's next portfolio has been delayed in the wake of the Covid pandemic, Assembly polls in other states, budget in the state and so on.

In fact, when the Congress high command had called a meeting at CMR and invited all CLP members on September 25 to discuss this matter, Gehlot camp leaders called a parallel meeting at another venue where around 91 MLAs threatened the party with their resignations which were submitted to Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi.

Amid all this drama, the question yet remains if Pilot will be given a chance to lead the state and this speculation will stay on in the coming months too as the Pilot camp has been bringing their demand to the fore time and again.

This is just not the case with Congress as the opposition BJP is also facing a similar challenge with Raje being sidelined.

Raje's supporters have also been pitching her as the next Chief Minister while the party high command has refused to announce any chief ministerial face for the 2023 Assembly polls.

Earlier, her posters were also removed from the party office as well as during the bypolls. Party officials however, said that Central leadership had directed that only pictures of state president, national president and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be accommodated on posters.

Raje was also seen missing from campaigning for the bypolls and many meetings.

The BJP's Janakrosh Yatra became a platform for the comeback of Raje's pictures in posters.

Again, there are discussions if she will be back or if she will be kept isolated as she was in Gujarat polls. Raje was no where in the list of star campaigners in Gujarat which once again became an issue of discussion.

So it won't be wrong to say Raje and Pilot were the discussing points in the year which passed off peacefully but for the state;s political sphere.

There was a lot of drama, action, surprise, suspense, attack and counteractions.

Meanwhile, there were other discussion points as well.

The slang words like 'Gaddar', 'Nikkama', 'Nakara' used by Gehlot against Pilot and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat became political jargons in Rajasthan as pundits were seen trying to decode their meanings.

These words were initially used by Gehlot against Pilot during the political rebellion in 2020. In fact even recently, Gehlot openly targeted Pilot terming him as 'Gaddar' before the start of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Whenever the Chief Minister used these words against Pilot, the political pundits had to scratch their heads to find the meaning and intension of Gehlot as such attacks with these words always gave a meaning.

Recently, when Gehlot used the 'gaddar' word before Bharat Jodo Yatra saying -- "A 'gaddar' cannot be the Chief Minister" -- political experts said that this was the direct message to high command that he will never want Pilot to take the top role.

In fact questions are being raised as to why the 'Gandhian' Chief Minister known for his suave language ever used these harsh words against his deputy.

"Usage of these words are like political jargons. The Chief Minister has used the Nikkamma for Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat too in ERCP matter and that matter has now become a national issue in forthcoming polls," said senior Congress leader.

"So, when such words are used, take them as jargons and try to find its meaning. They have a long shelf life and deep meaning," he added.

Meanwhile, it won't be wrong to say that Rajasthan's politics since last many months has been in for discussion and the millions dollar question being raised across political circles is who will lead from the front, will Gehlot continue as Chief Minister or will former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot get the chance to lead the state.

Will there be more words like 'gaddar', 'nikamma' and 'nakara' rocking the state or will it pass peacefully to enter the 2023 assembly polls -- these are a few questions which are presently being discussed in political circles with major question been ?Kaun Banega Mukhya Mantri'?