Rajasthan govt rejig: Sachin Pilot seeks social, gender and region balance

Presenting his wish list and perspective to Gandhi during their meeting in New Delhi on Friday, Pilot said the ministry reshuffle and reconstitution of party panels can be used to ensure Congress bucks Rajasthan’s trend of voting out the incumbent and retain power after 2023 assembly polls.

Pilot is learnt to have pointed out that the Rajasthan ministry was without Dalit representation. He also said the eastern region remained ‘underrepresented’ despite electing the largest chunk of Congress candidates to the assembly. While pitching for fair share of Cabinet representations for his supporting MLAs, Pilot is also learnt to have reiterated his stand that Congress workers who fought against BJP and ‘bore lathis’ should get their ‘share and voice’ in the Cabinet and the Congress organisation and stressed the need for better government-party coordination in the run up to the next assembly polls.

AICC insiders said that Pilot has been of the view that Congress leadership should think ‘out of the box’ and prepare early for polls as the Opposition BJP in Rajasthan is an entrenched party, unlike Punjab, where the poll-bound Congress government has the advantage of facing ‘crisis-ridden’ rivals.

Gandhi is learnt to have inputs from a committee comprising AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and Ajay Maken which held many rounds of discussions with senior state Congress leaders, ministers and MLAs on the party’s roadmap.

Pilot’s meeting came a day after chief minister Ashok Gehlot met Gandhi to discuss the rejig of cabinet, party and state-run corporations. Ever since he was removed as PCC chief and deputy CM, in July 2020, following his rebellion against Gehlot, Pilot has been seeking ‘rehabilitation’ for his supporters. While the party leadership is reportedly considering him for an AICC post, Pilot is believed to be keen on remaining in Rajasthan. The state Cabinet has about nine Cabinet vacancies which, as ET reported on Friday, could be increased by easing out serving ministers, including three holding party posts additionally. The Pilot camp is hoping to get about half a dozen cabinet berths in the reshuffle.

“It is essential to form the (Congress) government in 2023 again. The party will take decisions keeping experience, credibility, regional balance and caste combinations in mind,” Pilot told media persons after the meeting and thanked Gandhi for taking feedback from all stakeholders.