The bitter battle between Ashok Gehlot and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Rajasthan is going down to the wire

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot (left) and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

From abuses to legal tangles, the political tussle between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is getting uglier with each passing day. The slugfest reached a tipping point after Shekhawat stated at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in Chittorgarh on April 27 that “if you want to end this Raavan of politics Ashok Gehlot and establish Ram Rajya in Rajasthan, then raise your hands”.

In retaliation, a Gehlot loyalist filed a police complaint charging Shekhawat with “insulting the Chief Minister of Rajasthan”. The Police were quick to register an FIR against Shekhawat under several sections including section 500 (for defamation) and section 504 (for intentional insult to provoke breach of peace).

The Sanjeevani Scam

The “Raavan” remark is the latest salvo in a long-drawn battle. For years, Gehlot has accused Shekhawat of involvement in the Rs 900 crore Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam that eroded the earnings of thousands of people in west Rajasthan. In February, Gehlot publicly blamed Shekhawat and his family for the scam, prompting the Union Minister to complain that the CM was hurling baseless charges with the “intention of murdering me politically”.

Shekhawat then hit back by filing a criminal defamation case against Gehlot in a Delhi court in early March. While Gehlot welcomed Shekhawat’s move as “it would catapult the issue to national attention”, the Rajasthan Police suddenly went into an overdrive. Over the next fortnight, the Special Operations Group (SOG), probing the scam since 2019, registered 123 FIRs based on complaints from victims of the scam. Surprisingly, though SOG did not name him as an accused in its chargesheets, Shekhawat petitioned the Rajasthan High Court to stay his possible arrest in the Sanjivani case stating Gehlot was paying “special attention” to just one cooperative society.

To move the probe out of Rajasthan Police’s jurisdiction, Shekhawat is pushing for a CBI probe as the fraud relates to the society’s dealings in several states. However, wishing to keep the case under the purview of his state police, Gehlot contends the central Enforcement Directorate has taken no action on his government’s plea to probe the money trail in Sanjivani scam nor seized properties of the perpetrators.

Intriguingly, a few weeks ago, the Madhya Pradesh government too proposed a CBI probe into the Sanjivani scam as some victims were from the state. However, in a separate plea filed by one Sanjivani Society Peedit Samiti, the Supreme Court rejected the plea by pointing out that the CBI had itself opposed the transfer of the case from SOG in an earlier petition in the Rajasthan High Court.

Remnants Of A Coup

Beyond the current round of defamation cases and the Sanjivani shenanigans, Gehlot and Shekhawat have been targeting each other ever since the revolt of 2020 by Sachin Pilot. Gehlot accuses Shekhawat of leading the attempts to topple his government and audio clips abound in the public arena wherein Shekhawat allegedly tries to induce Congress MLAs to switch sides. Shekhawat’s refusal to give his voice sample for verification of the voice in the clips is repeatedly highlighted by Gehlot to embarrass the Union Minister.

In a counter move, Shekhawat also lodged a case in Delhi against Gehlot’s OSD Lokesh Sharma for circulating his tapped telephonic chats that project Shekhawat’s alleged complicity in the bid to topple the Rajasthan government. Despite repeated questioning by Delhi Police, the case has seen little progress as the Delhi High Court has stayed the aide’s arrest. Likewise, Rajasthan Police has made little progress in the two cases wherein Shekhawat could face serious trouble – the Sanjivani scam case and the case of toppling the Gehlot government via corrupt means.

The Marwar Connection

Moreover, Gehlot and Shekhawat are also at loggerheads over the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) to serve the water needs of 13 districts. Gehlot claims that despite being the Jal Shakti Minister, Shekhawat has neither provided funds nor support for making ERCP a National Project. The canal was conceived by the former BJP government in the state and even received a green signal from PM Modi. But after the Congress regained power in 2018, hurdles were allegedly created to stall the ERCP in the state’s eastern zone where the BJP fared poorly in the last Assembly elections.

At the root of the animus is the desire for control over their home turf: Both Gehlot and Shekhawat belong to Jodhpur. Since 1980 when he won this Lok Sabha seat for the first time, Gehlot has dominated the politics of Marwar and no leader in any party comes close to his popularity in the region. Post-2014, Shekhawat has emerged as a challenger. By defeating Gehlot’s son in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Shekhawat has asserted himself as a mass leader of Jodhpur and used his status as a Union Minister to carve a niche for himself in the region.

Shekhawat’s bitterness is intensified by the fact that his arch rival in BJP, former CM Vasundhara Raje had stayed inactive in order to thwart the Shekhawat-BJP bid at toppling the Gehlot government. Her alleged nexus with Gehlot is galling for Shekhawat who has been a Raje critic ever since she frustrated Amit Shah’s plan to install him as the Rajasthan BJP Chief in 2018.

In this clash of titans, Gehlot wants Shekhawat to be cut to size. But for Shekhawat, his combat with Gehlot is also a chance to leapfrog ahead of all his party rivals in the BJP’s battle of “Kaun Banega CM’ in Rajasthan. Whatever the outcome, this unbounded battle is instigating huge political fireworks well before the electoral clash this winter.

Rajan Mahan is a journalist who headed NDTV and Star News in Rajasthan. He was also a Professor of Journalism at the University of Rajasthan in  Jaipur.
Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.