Ajay Maken has his way as 3 Gehlot loyalists dropped from Bharat Jodo Yatra organising panel in Rajasthan

New Delhi: The Rajasthan Congress has conceded one of the key demands of party general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken by dropping three senior leaders and chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s loyalists – Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore – from a panel formed to coordinate the preparations for the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the desert state.

The yatra is expected to enter Rajasthan on December 3 and travel across the state for three weeks.

Maken had last week offered to step down from the post in view of no action having been taken against the three leaders for defying the high command by boycotting the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on September 25 called to elect the successor of Gehlot who was then tipped to contest the party president’s polls.

Gehlot loyalists held a parallel meeting and decided to oppose any move to shift Gehlot out of Rajasthan and appoint his bete noire Sachin Pilot as the next chief minister. Maken and current Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were appointed the central observers by the then party chief Sonia Gandhi to conduct the proceedings of the CLP meeting. The observers had later recommended disciplinary action against minister Dhariwal, Joshi and Rathore.

While Gehlot opted out, Kharge plunged into the race and won the presidential elections.

Earlier this month, Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra formed a 35-member state-level coordination committee, comprising Gehlot and Pilot, for smooth conduct of the yatra in the state.

Maken had objected to the inclusion of Dhariwal, Joshi, who is the party’s chief whip in the state assembly, and Rathore, who heads the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC), in the committee and demanded their immediate removal. The party finally conceded to his demand.

Gehlot loyalists argue that since the chief minister had taken moral responsibility for the incident and apologised to Sonia Gandhi on behalf of the legislators there was no need to take any action against the three leaders.  

Maken, who is considered close to Rahul Gandhi, was keen to see the exit of Gehlot and installation of Pilot as the chief minister before the assembly elections next year. He has made it a prestige point for himself.

However, Gehlot was unwilling to oblige him. It remains to be seen if Kharge would seek Gehlot’s removal given that the move is bound to cause widespread unrest and even a split in the Rajasthan Congress.

Under no circumstances, Kharge would do anything to rock his boat at this juncture and go down in history as a failure. He will have to walk a tightrope to save the Congress from further exodus and at the same ensure that his writ runs large in the grand old party. Indeed, a huge challenge for him.