Gehlot's desert storm may just sweep away Congress's gains in Rajasthan

Will the desert storm wipe out the Congress in Rajasthan? Can the divided Congress infuse fresh energy in its demotivated workers? Will the party be able to beat the opposition which is already fragmented? Can it cash in on the divided opposition to change the trend persisting in the state since four decades where power gets shifted to alternate hands every five years?

These are the questions being discussed by the Congress as well as the opposition parties.

The Congress workers are already fed up with discussing rebels, political camps, infighting and finally the party's future after the last four years since the Congress has been in power in Rajasthan.

They agree that the party has failed to strengthen its presence at the booth level in these four years and the voters' trust in the Congress remains shaken, said a senior leader.

The ongoing political crisis has hit the workers hard and they have lost trust in their leaders.

However, a ray of hope emerged after former deputy CM Sachin Pilot spoke of returning the party to power in the 2023 polls after meeting Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

"We need to discuss strategies to bring back our government, however no one is interested in thinking about it, but all seem interested in saving their chairs," said a senior leader.

It is because of these senior and selfish leaders that chief minister Ashok Gehlot had to say sorry in front of everyone in Delhi, said another leader.

"We are glad that amid the ongoing crisis, someone used the word 'together' in these testing times. This word is sacrosanct today as the party stands divided in three factions: there is one group loyal to the high command, another to CM Ashok Gehlot and the third to Sachin Pilot," he added.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the conduct of Assembly speaker CP Joshi who silently accepted the resignations of 92 Congress MLAs and is staying silent amid all this drama when the MLAs themselves are saying that they were made to resign forcefully.

The WhatsApp calls of all senior leaders are busy…discussing if a new CM will come or if Gehlot will manage to hold on to his chair.

The million dollar question is, "Will the desert storm wipe out the Congress in Rajasthan?"

This is the question being discussed because the Gehlot camp MLAs are now questioning his right hand men, UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal, PHED minister Mahesh Joshi and RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore on why they called an unofficial meeting parallel to the CLP meeting last Sunday. These are the three leaders who were issued show-cause notices on Sunday.

Now all are waiting for the decision of the high command on the CM face. There will be a ray of light, says Vedprakash Solanki from the Pilot camp who termed Dharmendra Rathore a 'Dalal' when he called Pilot a traitor.

We are ready to go for mid-term elections but we want CM Gehlot to remain our leader, says minister Parsadilali Lal Meena.

We are with the high command, says Divya Maderna, granddaughter of Parasram Maderna who couldn't become CM under similar conditions as are existing today.

So with three factions in the party, all eyes are now on the high command.

--IANS

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