Rajasthan will now have two Deputy Chief Ministers, senior Jat leader Kamla Beniwal and a Dalit leader Banwari Lal Bairawa. Former minister Ram Singh Bishnoi, who had to quit the ministry last year, has also been reinducted into the Cabinet.Congress president Sonia Gandhi tonight gave an approval for these proposals of the Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, though none of them seem to be working in his favour. But after vacillating for over a fortnight on whether to drop Gehlot or Rajashtan Pradesh Congress Committee president Girija Vyas, the Congress high command seems to have spared both.However, a 14-member coordination committee, headed by general-secretary in charge of the state Ambika Soni, to monitor the decisions taken by the state government in the past four years, schemes for social security, rural development, universalisation of education, and infrastructure development. The bad news for Gehlot is that the lobby that has been seeking his ouster, comprising former CMs Shiv Charan Mathur and J.N. Pahadia and Congress MP Shish Ram Ola, have been included in the committee.Also, Ram Singh Bishnoi, a senior leader, had quit last year from the Cabinet because of a controversy over his son. This is being seen as a setback for Gehlot who has had to reinduct him into the ministry. Similarly, Banwari Lal Bairawa had lost the Lok Sabha by-election last year from Tonk but Gehlot had to promote him to the level of deputy CM. Kamala Beniwal, a senior Congress leader, has been accommodated as part of the party’s pre-poll strategy to include the Jat community in power-sharing.
