Monday, 22 November 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
The Congress in Rajasthan took a major step on Sunday to rehabilitate former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and end the protracted infighting within the party when five Pilot supporters found a place in the Ashok Gehlot Cabinet in a long-overdue reshuffle.
As many as 15 MLAs took oath as Ministers, out of which 12 of them were new faces, while three Ministers of State were promoted to Cabinet positions. Five of the Ministers are from the Sachin Pilot camp.
This is the first Cabinet reshuffle of the Gehlot Government which came to power in December 2018.
After the reshuffle, the Congress leadership is expected to bestow organisational responsibility on Pilot at the national level. There are reports that he could be the chief ministerial face of the party in the 2023 Assembly polls in Rajasthan.
The new Ministers are Ramlal Jat, Mahesh Joshi, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Vishvendra Singh, Ramesh Meena, Mamta Bhupesh Bairwa, Bhajan Lal Jatav, Teekaram Juli, Govind Ram Meghwal, Shakuntala Rawat, Brijendra Singh Ola and Murari Lal Meena. Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra administered the oaths.
While Pilot has expressed satisfaction over the nature of the Cabinet reshuffle, voices of dissent have already surfaced in the party over denial of Cabinet berths.
Congress MLA and ministerial aspirant Shafia Zubair played the spoilsport by alleging that those with a bad reputation have been promoted.
“The Cabinet’s structure could’ve been better. Those with a bad reputation have been promoted. Overall, the Cabinet is not sending a good message. Women (MLAs) didn’t get 33 per cent reservation (in the Cabinet),” Zubair said.
Another MLA, Johari Lal Meena levelled corruption allegations at Minister Teekaram Juli. “In our district (Alwar), it is well known that Tikaram Juli is a corrupt man and that his family is involved in collection. I asked the party leadership to remove him but instead, he has been made a Minister. I am against it,” Meena said.
“He (MLA Johari Lal Meena) is a senior leader of the party. I respect him but his allegations are totally baseless. He should come out with proof, if he has any, to back his allegations,” Tikaram Juli said.
However, Pilot said that he was happy with the reshuffle, ANI reported. “The step taken by the party and leadership after discussions is sending a positive message across the State. We had raised this issue time and again.”
Meanwhile, the BJP has slammed the Congress for including only three women Ministers in the new Cabinet.
“In Rajasthan, where the Congress is in power, only three out of 15 Ministers, which means that only 20 per cent are women,” the party’s Information Technology cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted. “But in Uttar Pradesh where the Congress is the number four party, it is making false promises of giving 40 per cent representation to women. This is the truth of the double politics of the Congress and the Gandhi family.”
