Congress names Gehlot, Pilot as observers for polls in Maharashtra

JAIPUR: At a time when bypolls to seven assembly seats are going to take place on Nov 13 in Rajasthan, Congress has deputed two of its senior-most leaders, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, to shoulder responsibilities in poll-bound Maharashtra.
With the Election Commission announcing polls to Maharashtra and Jharkhand assemblies on Tuesday, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) appointed former CM Ashok Gehlot as senior observer for Mumbai and Konkan divisions, while former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot was appointed as senior observer for Marathwada division.
The rivalry between Gehlot and Pilot is well known, and it cost the party the state in the last assembly elections in 2023. With Rajasthan going to polls again, the party high command made a strategic decision to keep both leaders away from the state during the bypolls.
This decision also comes in the wake of the party's defeat in the 2023 assembly elections, which many attribute to the internal conflict between the two leaders.
In the last assembly elections, BJP made substantial gains in eastern Rajasthan, where Pilot commanded massive influence, increasing its seats from one to 13 across five districts—Bharatpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Dholpur and Dausa—while Congress' seat count dropped from 20 to 8 in the same region.
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This move aims to prevent any internal conflicts from affecting the party's performance in the byelections. By keeping Gehlot and Pilot out of the state, the party hopes to present a united front to the electorate.
Gehlot will share the responsibility with former Karnataka deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, and Pilot will share the responsibility with former Telangana Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy.
State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said the decision on alliances in Rajasthan will be made by the Congress high command. "We will learn from the mistakes made in Haryana. The party leadership and workers will ensure that no such mistakes are repeated here in Rajasthan. This is a lesson for us," he said.