Congress wins the battle, now to choose the CMs

It’s going to be a tough choice as there are but two seats and quadruple contenders

With all three states in their kitty the Congress has ample reason to rejoice. But within 24 hours of its nerve biting victory in three of the five states that went to poll, another question looms ahead. It’s Scindhia Vs Nath in Madhya Pradesh and Pilot Vs Gehlot in Rajasthan.

As the young face of a changing Congress party, it is only obvious that Rahul Gandhi would want to promote the Young Turks within his party to attract the new pollsters, looking for a fresh face and a new energy to catapult the party to victory in the 2019 elections which are just a few months away. But that is not to be.

News reporters at the Congress office I Rajasthan were quick to report that loyalists of both the Sachin Pilot and Ashok Kumar Gehlot camps had gathered at the party office and were sloganeering on behalf of their respective candidates yesterday. While Sachin Pilot lost no time in making contact with the Bahujan Samaj Party to garner strength just in case they missed the majority mark in Rajasthan, most of the independent candidates who have won at the Rajasthan polls are Congress rebel candidates who did not secure a party ticket and who owe loyalty to the Gehlot camp. It is thus being said that the veteran leader has an upper hand over pilot in the state.

While cold war brews between the Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot camps in Rajasthan, Jyotiraditya Scindhia has said he is ready to take the CM’s responsibility in Madhya Pradesh, upsetting Kamal Nath’s claim to the top job. The duo had earlier handed the Congress’ letter staking claim to government formation to Governor Anandiben Patel who told them to wait till there was more clarity in the division of seats before a decision could be taken on which party had clear majority.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi however maintained grace and dignity at a press conference on Tuesday evening, terming it as the ire of the jobless youth, the starving farmers and the common man reeling under GST and the curse of demonetization that had helped the Congress ride to victory. The surprise Congress victory over Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan has now upset the comfortable position that the Bharatiya Janata Party thought it was in. While it will have to tighten its act together, the Congress will have to start working for Elections 2019 with fresh gusto and its United Front allies to wrest Elections 2019 in its favour. The Assembly polls held for five states also saw the rise of regional parties what with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) recording a landslide win for a second consecutive term and the Mizo National Front (MNF) scripting a spectacular victory dislodging the Congress in its last bastion in the Northeast to return to power after 10 years.