Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], June 7 : Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday opened up about the persistent friction within the state's Congress unit, the infamous "Manesar episode," and his strained relationship with senior leader Sachin Pilot.
Among the most striking revelations in Gehlot's remarks was his claim that he played a pivotal role in Sachin Pilot's ascent to the Union Cabinet. Expressing deep personal hurt on X, Gehlot noted that despite his active efforts to secure a ministerial berth for Pilot, the latter never publicly acknowledged the support.
"When he called me, requesting help to become a minister, I facilitated it and ensured he got the position. However, he never once uttered those words from his own lips. That hurts," Gehlot stated, emphasising that a simple acknowledgement of the assistance would have bridged the trust gap between them. "If he had just told his friends that Ashok Gehlot helped me, my heart would have been full."
Addressing the recurring political attacks regarding the Manesar rebellion, Gehlot remained firm that the issue was an internal family matter that should have been put to rest long ago. He dismissed the claim that the events of September 25, 2024, represented a revolt against the party High Command.
"If I had revolted against the High Command, would they have kept me as Chief Minister?" Gehlot asked, framing the 100-MLA gathering as a show of loyalty to the leadership during a time of crisis. He argued that the rank and file simply did not want a change in leadership to someone associated with the rebellion, asserting that the party's loyalty to the Gandhis remains as strong as it was during Indira Gandhi's era.
Gehlot also launched a stinging critique of the media, both mainstream and digital, accusing them of fueling the fire by creating "false narratives." He lamented the speculative reporting that frequently portrays Pilot as a candidate for Prime Minister, party president, or other high-ranking posts, suggesting that such coverage only harms Pilot's political standing.
"There is no substitute for truth. I have been saying for six months, forget Manesar. Move on. Why is this issue still alive? Perhaps because of the people advising him," Gehlot mused.
Despite the history of bitterness, Gehlot insisted that he holds no personal animosity toward Pilot, whom he has known since childhood. "We still meet, we laugh, we joke. We have no personal enmity; I have treated him like a son."
Gehlot further called the party to focus on the broader national challenge. With the country and the Congress party facing critical times, he urged all leaders, from Pilot to himself and the current state leadership, to bury the past and work in tandem.
"We want the party to unite. The High Command's faith in the Rajasthan Congress remains unshaken, as evidenced by Rahul Gandhi's recent praise for the current leadership team. Let us fight this battle together," he added, reiterating his lifelong adherence to the Gandhian principle: Truth is God.
Earlier, he reignited the presidential election debate within Congress in 2022. Gehlot was seen as a frontrunner to take over as Congress chief in 2022, but was seen to have preferred state politics.
He has said that if Sonia Gandhi and the Congress had made him the Congress President, would he have refused?
Gehlot's remarks, coming almost four years after a show of strength in Jaipur in the presence of AICC observers, led to the central leadership giving up plans to bring a leadership change in Rajasthan ahead of the 2023 assembly polls.
"I know the stature of the Congress President's post.. (Mahatma) Gandhiji has been President, Pandit Nehru, Motilal Nehru has been President, who hasn't been, Sardar Patel has been party President, if Sonia Gandhi and the Congress were making me the Congress President, would I have refused? The situation was so created, I think it was a big conspiracy. The observers arrived suddenly, and I got defamed. People think that Ashok Gehlot wanted to remain Chief Minister and did not want to become Congress President, so the revolt happened," he told reporters.
"Even people close to me abroad also think the same that Ashok Gehlot wanted to remain Chief Minister; he orchestrated the revolt. How can I explain to them what I am explaining to you? If even now something good comes, you do what I have told you....," he added
Sonia Gandhi was the interim president of the party in 2022. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was eventually elected as party chief in October 2022 and is set to be re-elected to the Rajya Sabha later this month. He defeated Shashi Tharoor in the election.
Gehlot also spoke about apparent efforts to replace him with party leader Sachin Pilot as Chief Minister.
"People feel that I wanted to be CM and I orchestrated the revolt. The media spread it. I stayed quiet. I stayed quiet as I had to tell Soniaji that, whether it was a revolt against Pilot or whatever, I don't have anything (to do). I was the leader of the legislative party, and observers from AICC had come. Coming of AICC observers has significance. It was Kharge Sahab or Ajay Makenji and I couldn't get the resolution passed," Gehlot said.
"Although I had said at night to end the meeting for now and we would talk after calling another meeting tomorrow. That situation did not arise for us... so it... so that... didn't happen... the resolution couldn't be passed. I went and expressed my regrets before Madam, party has given me everything, this situation arose so I am apologising...," he added.
The political turmoil in the Rajasthan Congress in April 2022 led to Mallkarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken, who were AICC observers, filing a report to the party leadership.
The Gehlot camp MLAs had "refused to hold a one-to-one meeting with them".Kharge had said in April 2022 that they arrived in Delhi after meeting three MLAs in Jaipur."We are going to give our report to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi," said Ajay Maken ahead of his meeting with Congress's interim president. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, after arriving in Delhi from Jaipur said the decision will be taken by Sonia Gandhi after they submit the report."We are going to 10, Janpath and will meet Sonia Gandhi. We will apprise her about the events (about the Rajasthan Congress crisis). She will eventually take the decision on it," he had said.
Maken had met with three members from the Gehlot camp - Shanti Dhariwal, CP Joshi and Pratap Khachriyawas, who had put forward three proposals.
Later, after the meeting, Maken told the reporters that the three MLAs forwarded three proposals, which they did not accept, as they raised a conflict of interest.
Their first proposal was to announce the implementation of the resolution of handing over the final responsibility of appointing the chief minister to the Congress high command and to pass it after October 19.
"We told them that this raises a conflict of interest, as if Gehlot is elected as the Congress president then this proposal will empower him further after October 19 and there can be no bigger conflict of interest than this so we did not do this," Maken said.
He also said that their second condition was that they wanted to come in groups and when we said that we wanted to talk to each of them individually as it has been a practice of the Congress to take feedback from each leader. "However, they did not accept this."
"Their third condition was that the chief minister should be picked from the 102 MLAs who were loyal to CM Gehlot and not from the Pilot group," Maken said.
He said that "the three Gehlot camp supporters insisted on us meeting their three conditions and we told them that their exact sentiments will be conveyed to Congress chief, who will take the decision after talking to CM Ashok Gehlot and everyone else."
"We waited for more MLAs to come but they didn't come. Now Mallikarjun Kharge and I are going to Delhi to submit our report to the Congress president," said Maken.
Nobody has any idea about the number and the identities of the MLAs who have resigned or not, he said.
A legislative party meeting was scheduled at the residence of Gehlot in the presence of the observers, which was to be attended by Sachin Pilot and his camp MLAs.
However, the Gehlot loyalists had held a meeting with Cabinet Minister Shanti Dhariwal at his residence, following which over 90 MLAs had submitted their resignations to Speaker CP Joshi.
Pilot was seen as the successor of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who was set to contest the Congress president election scheduled on October 17.
The Rajasthan deputy chief minister had conducted a second round of meeting with the AICC observers.
The Gehlot loyalists apparently wanted someone from their own camp to be chosen as the next Chief Minister, instead of Pilot, who, according to them, had revolted against his own party back in 2020.