Why the Rajasthan crisis would adversely affect the Congress in Gujarat

New Delhi, Sep 27: The Rajasthan crisis may play out in Gujarat for the Congress. This is primarily because most of the party observers in Gujarat are from Rajasthan and almost all of them are loyalists of Ashok Gehlot.

In June this year, the Congress appointed 37 observers in many poll-bound states including Gujarat. 23 of the leaders are from Rajasthan of which 13 are ministers and 10 are MLAs.

The Congress also approved the proposal for the appointment of working presidents of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. The working presidents were Lalit Kagathara, Jignesh Mevani, Rutvik Makwana, Ambarish J Der, Himmatsingh Patel, Kadir Pirzada, and Indravijaysinh Gohil.

Many of the Gehlot loyalists such as Dharmendra Singh, Lal Chand Kataria and Raghu Sharma are also active in the Gujarat unit. This is why an upset Gehlot could be problematic for the Congress when it faces the elections in Gujarat. The party has also been further weakened with the Aam Aadmi Party showing promise in Gujarat.

80 Congress MLAs had submitted their resignation ahead of a proposed meeting where the leaders were likely to discuss the new chief ministerial candidate in Rajasthan.

Reports said that the MLAs were upset with the possibility of Sachin Pilot becoming the chief minister as he had rebelled against the party in 2020. Now reports have emerged that there would be a status quo in Rajasthan as Gehlot may have pulled out of the race for Congress president.