According to the media editorials, the drama produced by the resignation of MLAs loyal to Ashok Gehlot raises many issues about the party’s leadership and future.
Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, had appeared to be developing relationships with senior members of the Congress party, but on Sunday, nearly 90 MLAs in the state resigned in support of Gehlot, throwing a wrench in the works.
According to reports, Gehlot will run for party president in the 2018 election. He won’t continue to be the chief minister if he prevails. The possibility of Sachin Pilot becoming the chief minister appears to be unpopular with the MLAs who back Gehlot. In 2020, Pilot had defied Gehlot’s authority.
Gehlot must either remain chief minister or be replaced by a member of the MLAs’ faction, according to the MLAs.
The prolonged crisis has led to many concerns about the direction of Congress and its future. Here are some quotes from the leading English newspapers on the subject.
According to the Delhi edition of the Indian Express, the Congress high command, which believed it could ignore the voice of the Congress Legislature Party and impose its will on legislators, was equally responsible for the political crisis in Rajasthan as Chief Minister and candidate for the party’s presidency Ashok Gehlot.
The editorial stated that the entire “event” makes the Congress central leadership appear “diminished, clueless, and useless.”
“The party’s Rajasthan crisis reveals a faulty communication strategy within.” The party leadership appears to have made different pledges to different persons in an attempt to resolve their disagreements, only to realize that it may no longer command the authority to implement its word,” it added.
The editorial goes on to state that any “blunder” by the party’s leadership “may lead to the unraveling of the party in Rajasthan and put a cloud on the approaching election to the party president’s office.”
The Times of India published an editorial in its Delhi edition as well. The article, titled “Pilot Error,” discusses how Gehlot was viewed as Gandhi’s proxy candidate for the presidency. “The Gandhis have suffered shame in the past, but none this severe,” the editorial stated. “It’s not simply a loss of face; it’s a harsh reminder that strong state leaders can now try to dictate terms to the Gandhis, and, most importantly, that the Gandhis might appear to be completely disconnected from political reality.”
It went on to say that the Gandhis should have expected Gehlot’s reaction to Pilot becoming CM. “Gehlot’s dominant position in the Rajasthan Congress, as well as his determination to assume the presidency on his own terms, should have compelled the weaker Gandhi family to submit.”
The editorial speculated on what this could mean for Gehlot, saying, “The family’s image of Gehlot as the best of their loyalists to succeed Sonia Gandhi could shift today. In that situation, additional loyalists may also enter the fray.”
The drama “proved that the three-time CM holds influence over an overwhelming majority of the party’s elected state representatives and brought back memories of Punjab, another state where the Congress was well-placed before a destabilizing factional battle decimated the unit and torpedoed its poll prospects last year,” according to the Hindustan Times editorial.
The editorial slammed the Gandhis and the party’s lack of “internal competition.” ‘The Gandhis’ writ continued to run – in the party’s response to issues; in selecting who would be CM and who would not; and how and when internal party elections would be placed, the statement stated. “Regardless of how the situation in Rajasthan plays out, it is now clear that this has altered and that severe internal issues have emerged.” This is not surprising; continuing poor election performance will and should reflect on leadership, just as poor financial outcomes reflect on the CEO of a firm.”
It further stated that Gehlot’s insistence on selecting his successor is “an unusual case of public disobedience of the high command’s desires by someone regarded close and loyal to the Gandhis.”
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