Vaibhav Gehlot arrived on a train in Jodhpur on April 1 as its Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha elections. His father, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, was keen that he take the train from Jaipur. The idea apparently was to project Vaibhav as an aam aadmi, in sync with Gehlot’s image of being a simple and humble man. And, Vaibhav, accompanied by wife and daughter, sought the blessings of Gehlot’s elder sister Vimla Devi before heading to file his nomination—a practice always followed by Gehlot.
The lawyer-turned-politician’s debut is from his father’s traditional seat, and hence his candidature symbolises the carrying forward of Gehlot’s political legacy. Gehlot had contested his first Lok Sabha election from Jodhpur in 1980, the year Vaibhav was born, and he has represented the constituency in Parliament five times. That Gehlot wants people to see Vaibhav in his own image is clear, as he has often said that he wants his son to become like him.
The Gehlots have been at pains to emphasise that Vaibhav has worked his way up in the party. “It is not as if I was abroad or that I was doing some business outside of Rajasthan and have been brought into politics all of a sudden,” said Vaibhav. “I have been working in the party for the last 15 years, at times without any post.” He further said that in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the then state unit president C.P. Joshi had proposed his name for the Tonk-Sawai Madhopur seat, and his father, who was the chief minister at that time, said that he should first work for the party. “Had I got the ticket then, I would have contested in 2009. I have finally got my chance in 2019. So, it is not an abrupt development,” he said.
Vaibhav, an alumnus of Air Force Bal Bharati School, New Delhi, was a lawyer in the Rajasthan High Court before he entered politics in 2003 as Gehlot’s campaign manager for the Sardarpura assembly seat. The first time he came into focus was when, as a Youth Congress member, he was injured in police action during a protest in 2005.
Over the years, Vaibhav has been a member and general secretary of the state Congress committee executive. He has also maintained the Jodhpur constituency for Gehlot, and helped in organising public meetings for him. He has campaigned for his father and other candidates in the Marwar region, too.
Now, as he makes his electoral debut, a lot rides on his shoulders—the weight of his father’s political legacy and the party’s desire to wrest Jodhpur from the BJP.
VAIBHAV GEHLOT, 38
EDUCATION
Law graduate from ILS Law College, Pune
POLITICAL LINKS
Father, Ashok Gehlot, is chief minister of Rajasthan and a former Union minister of state