What is common between Michael Lobo and Sachin Pilot?

The recent defection scare in the Goa Congress bears a striking resemblance to the developments in the grand old party in Rajasthan in July 2020.

And there is something common between Michael Lobo and Sachin Pilot, the two Congress leaders who engineered a rebellion in the party in their respective states.

Both failed in their coup attempts

While Lobo could not muster the requisite 8 legislators (2/3rd of 11 members) to cause a split in the Congress, Pilot camped in a Gurugram resort in Haryana for days in the hope that the numbers of his supporters would swell.

He had sequestered 18 legislators to the resort and waited for the figure to cross 30. But that didn’t happen.

Pilot had been nursing the ambition of becoming the chief minister ever since he was appointed the Rajasthan Congress president in January 2014 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

A power tussle erupted between him and Ashok Gehlot after the Congress won the 2018 assembly elections in Rajasthan. Gehlot eventually outsmarted Pilot to bag the coveted chief minister’s post. Pilot had to reconcile with the deputy chief minister’s post.

Had Pilot managed to do muster the required number, the Congress government in Rajasthan would have collapsed.

On the other hand, Lobo's revolt had nothing to do with the BJP government's survival as it was only aimed at weakening the Congress in the assembly and in Goa.

Both Pilot and Lobo were punished for their revolt

Pilot was sacked both as the deputy chief minister and the Rajasthan Congress president. Lobo was removed as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, by virtue of which he was the Leader of the Opposition.

Lobo is pleading innocent and claims that he is still in the Congress but the party has already filed a petition before the Speaker to disqualify him and veteran leader Digambar Kamat. It remains to be seen if the Congress pursues with its disqualification move given that the leadership apprehends that there might be attempts to split the Congress in the future too.

After the failed coup attempt, Pilot opted for reconciliation and decided against leaving the Congress but none of the posts has so far been restored to him.

In fact, Gehlot often rubs it in on Pilot by talking about the revolt at various forums. Pilot is now hoping that the Congress high command will once again repose its trust on him and hand over the reins of the government to him ahead of the next year's assembly elections. He thinks his equations with the Gandhi siblings might enable him to finally oust Gehlot from the Jaipur throne.

But will a wily and shrewd Gehlot allow that is the biggest challenge before the Congress high command?