In the massive restructuring exercise that the Congress has taken after replacing Sachin Pilot, who headed its state unit, and his loyalists in all the vital party posts, the grand old party has tried to strike a careful caste balance.
Through the appointments of a totally new team of the state president, youth Congress chief, Sewa dal chief and NSUI president, the party, in a clear attempt to purge itself of Pilot’s influence, has also relooked at its caste calculations.
The appointments were made shortly before the Congress decided to dissolve all the departments of its state party unit.
One could begin by looking at the appointment of the new Congress PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasara. This is the first time in Rajasthan that the chiefs of both the Congress and BJP are Jats.
Satish Poonia, a Jat leader, with a long-time Sangh association, who won from the Amber assembly seat, leads BJP in the state. However, unlike Poonia, who is the first Jat chief of his state unit, Dotasra is the sixth Jat state chief of his party.
Nathuram Mirdha led the PCC twice. Given the influence of Jats in the state – seven of the 25 MPs are Jats and over 30 of the 200 MLAs come from this community – the party had placed three Jats in the cabinet, including Vishvendra Singh who has now been sacked from the cabinet.
Apart from Singh, the party has sacked two other Pilot loyalists - Mukesh Bhakar, who was youth Congress’s state chief and Abhimanyu Poonia, the state NSUI chief, both of whom are Jat leaders.
So in appointing Dotasra as PCC chief, the Congress has tried to fill the voids and send a powerful message to the community.
Another important appointment is that of Ganesh Goghra, a young face from Bhil tribe, whom the party has now appointed as the chief of its state’s youth Congress.
Goghra’s appointment sends many signals, most importantly to the Adviasi community. Goghra is an Adivasi and was elected from Dungarpur constituency which lies in the tribal belt of south Rajasthan, where the party founded by Chotubhai Vasava – the Bhartiya Tribal Party – has been gaining ground continuously. The party, founded just before the Assembly elections, won two seats from this belt.
The other threat to the Congress in this region, which it used to dominate once, comes from the RSS which has continuously been working here among students.
In the appointment of Goghra, who defeated his rival by over 27,000 votes, the Congress has tried to woo tribal youths, who have shown disaffection towards both the national parties, and stem the influence of the BTP and RSS in the tribal-dominated region.
Hem Singh Shekhawat, who has been appointed as the chief of the party’s Sewa Dal, is a Rajput who comes from an agrarian family. The Chief Minister himself is an OBC.
For now, all eyes will be on the proposed cabinet expansion scheduled at 4:30pm on Thursday to see the balance of caste calculations. Political observers are expecting multiple leaders from the Gujjar community to be adjusted into the cabinet, to fill the void of Pilot.
Also with the dissolution of all the state party cells and units, the opportunity to further refine region and caste considerations by appointing new faces will be present before Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
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