Junior Gehlot all set for poll debut from home turf

JAIPUR: Son rises from the West. CM Ashok Gehlot’s son embarks on his electoral journey from sun city Jodhpur, much on expected lines. Pitted against sitting MP and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the entry of junior Gehlot in his father's bastion has made the battle royal.

Vaibhav’s debut in electoral politics comes after 16 years of his ‘not so visible’ political stint. Months after getting his law degree from Pune in 2003, Vaibhav plunged into active politics and campaigned for the Congress candidates in the Vidhan Sabha polls, says his biodata, being shared across the Congress leaders.

He entered into the larger political arena in 2010, after he was made a member of PCC. His entry into electoral politics made rounds in 2014

Lok Sabha polls

, but amidst the massive retreat of BJP in the state (2013) and the Modi wave, it was probably not the right time to enter electoral politics.

He continued his political stint silently and was made the general secretary of Rajasthan Congress in 2014. The responsibility as an AICC member in 2018 and the victory of Congress in the recent state assembly polls, have paved the way for a bigger role. TOI called his PA Manoj Srivastav and requested for Vaibhav’s reaction, but the former did not revert even after several reminders.

Vaibhav, unlike his father, stays away from the social media. His verified accounts were not found on any of the social media platforms. The only social media presence is a fan page on Facebook, with close to one lakh followers, has mostly greetings, shared programmes and events, which are mostly of his father.

Of late, he has started sharing the dais in Congress programmes, but is hardly seen expressing his views. But still, his opponents are not ready to take him lightly. His father CM Gehlot has been contesting polls since 1980 (Lok Sabha and state assembly) which has given him opportunities to learn, understand and interpret the nuances of electoral politics.

The royal battle will not be cakewalk for the young leader, whose sole identity is being the son of the CM. Congress won six assembly seats out of eight, which has given the party an upper edge, while the BJP has been playing down the defeat, calling it a mandate for the state, but not for PM Modi. Shekhawat, who has built a national image in the last five years, has a very large following on all social media platforms.

His critics say that the challenge for him is to face live media and audience, and to express his views on comfortable as well as uncomfortable subjects.