Sachin Pilot’s brief rebellion was terminated abruptly Tuesday when he was sacked from the two posts of deputy chief minister of Rajasthan and state party president. But the swift putdown has thrown up unanswered questions about the Congress and its inability to hold on to talented middle-level leaders who should have been the faces of tomorrow.

Pilot’s sacking comes amidst deep discontent about the Congress Party’s inability to put up a fight against the BJP and also losing two states where it had formed governments _ Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh _ in swift succession. Now, party workers are wondering if a similar scenario is about to be played out in Rajasthan even though the party is better placed there in terms of numbers.

“This is committing political suicide. Congress is in self-destruct mode,” says former Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha. “We gave away Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and north India has become saffron again,” he adds.

Congress workers are also alarmed that Rajasthan is about to see a repeat of what happened in Madhya Pradesh with Jyotiraditya Scindia, and earlier in undivided Andhra Pradesh with Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who also left the party after his father died and he was not allowed a senior role.

“Truth can be harassed. It cannot be defeated,” Pilot tweeted soon after his sacking.

Pilot insists he is not following Scindia’s example and will not be joining the BJP. But the Gehlot camp insists there are recordings of his telephone conversations with BJP leaders discussing both legislators and amounts of money.

Jha, who has come out in open rebellion against the lackadaisical attitude of the Congress high command, says party workers at all levels are demoralised after fighting a lacklustre campaign in Maharashtra and then losing control of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and now coming worryingly close to being turfed out in Rajasthan.

Jha’s become a public figure because of his high-profile role as a Congress spokesman. He was sacked from the job after a recent article that was critical of the party. But many Congressmen believe Jha has put his finger accurately on the drift and complete loss of direction in the party over the last year after losing the May 2019 general elections.

The loss of two states and the possibility of losing a third appears to have shaken even the senior-most Congressmen who have always been staunch loyalists of the Gandhi family. “Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables,” tweeted Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who has never criticised the party top bosses so openly.

Another senior Congressman, Shashi Tharoor, was more guarded in his criticism and tweeted: “All who believe in the founding values of the Republic must work to strengthen @INCIndia not undermine it.”

Both Sibal and Tharoor are aware of the dangers of appearing critical of the Gandhi family and the fact that they have made such remarks openly is an indication of the extent of their alarm about the state of affairs.

On a conciliatory note, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said: “I consider Sachin Pilot one of the most talented, competent & impressive Congress men (sic) we have. He is a friends (sic) also. We all value him in the party. He should come & air his grievances, floor is open. All people are prepared to listen to him.”

Top Congress leaders are not willing to acknowledge it in public but a large part of the party’s problems is that there appears to be sharp differences on the way forward between Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and how to accommodate the Old Guard and the younger rising stars like Scindia and Pilot.

Rahul is said to have selected Pilot and asked him to return to Rajasthan and build up the party. When the elections were about to take place, Gehlot, with the backing of the high command, was able to get his people tickets to stand. And after the victory, despite open defiance from Pilot, the party fell back on Gehlot, the steady old-timer who also had the loyalty of many MLAs. Says Jha: “Gehlot will have a lot of MLAs supporting him because he has been the chief minister before.”

Many top leaders said they were resigned to the fact that Pilot would leave the party and take a group of MLAs with him. They said the only factor that might restrain him is that he needs 26 MLAs to bring down the government but hasn’t been able to muster up that many yet. However, everyone is aware that the BJP is also playing its own games and is determined to topple the government.

The Congress high command appeared to snap out of its inertia on Monday and made efforts through the day to win over Pilot. The reckoning at that time was Gehlot would have to concede around three or four ministries to Pilot’s supporters. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi is also reported to have had a lengthy telephonic conversation with Pilot on Monday. However, by Tuesday morning, Gehlot moved swiftly to ensure that Pilot was sacked.

Says Jha: “I think the Congress is demonstrating a lack of political intelligence. The party had to sit them down and find grounds for a reconciliation.” Jha suggests Gehlot could have been brought out of the state and made a party vice president in charge of a handful of states, though it’s not certain he would have accepted that.

Scindia also poured fuel on the fire after meeting Pilot on Sunday evening in Delhi, saying, “Sad to see my erstwhile colleague Sachin Pilot too being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,” tweeted Scindia.

Jha, however, has launched a no-holds-barred attack of a kind not seen in recent times in the Congress Party. He accuses the high command of giving up the fight during the Maharashtra elections and not making an effort to make its presence felt in the state. “Congress workers in Maharashtra felt the mothership had abandoned us. Across the rank and file there was dismay and anger combined,” he says. The former party spokesman argues that Scindia was “allowed to go”.

Jha believes the Congress Party, “owes it to the country to fight the BJP”. He believes there should be open party elections and anyone should be allowed to stand for the party president. He points out Sonia Gandhi was party president for 19 years from 1998 to 2017 and then Rahul Gandhi took over till August last year. At the time of resigning, Rahul made it clear the party should hold elections.

Jha also says it’s time the party had rules about how many years a person could serve as president. He adds that the BJP, in contrast to the Congress, is a formidable and well-organised rival and notes that the BJP has already prepared the ground for the Bihar election.

BJP Rajasthan president Satish Poonia also made it clear that the party would make unceasing efforts to topple the Congress. He said: “Our priority is that this government loses power. We are vigilant, monitoring the situation & will decide our strategy as the situation unfolds.”

It was a threat that couldn’t have been stated more clearly.