The voting for the presidential election commenced at 10 am and concluded at 2.15 at Rajasthan with 199 legislators exercising their franchise. However, the state congress in charge Ashok Gehlot, who is the sitting MLA from Rajasthan cast his vote from Gujarat.
After being appointed as the general secretary in charge for Gujarat, the former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot seems to finish his connection with Rajasthan. Ashok Gehlot always claims that the war between the Congress and the BJP is due to the difference in their ideologies but now it seems that he himself has deviated from his ideologies. Today he voted for the presidential elections in Gujarat. In spite of being the legislator of the Jodhpur city and the senior leader at Vidhan Sabha of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot now seems to maintain a distance from the politics of Rajasthan. His entire attention is focused towards Gujarat.
He was also not seen at the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha for the last three years and was not present during the Rajasthan Budget.
Now Sachin Pilot has taken over the Congress mantle from Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan. Gehlot who had an unquestioned domination over the Pradesh Congress Committee for over 2 decades, was evidently unnerved. Ashok Gehlot virtually backed off from backing Pilot’s leadership due to their personal and serious differences. Gehlot felt being pushed to the sidelines. They both share uneasy relations and the differences came to the fore after the party’s defeat in the by-poll at Dholpur. Gehlot and his followers had high hope of him making a comeback as CM for the third time in 2018. But despite his efforts, he lost all his faith and moved towards Gujarat.
Gehlot’s appointment as the party general secretary in charge of Gujarat is widely seen as an attempt by the Congress high command to strike a balance of power in Rajasthan.
Now Ashok Gehlot has only 2 options – either to focus on Delhi or Gujarat and seem to finish his connections with Rajasthan.
