Holiday plans,’but not in London or Dehradun’

This Ashok Gehlot is rarely seen — laidback,chatty and listless — whether due to the fatigue post months of hectic electioneering or resignation to the heart-breaking predictions. But wife Sunita has seen many a defeat and is not one to expect that a loss would mean seeing more of her husband at home. “Rajneeti mein haar-jeet chalti rehti hai (Winning and losing is part of politics),” she says. “Whatever Sunday brings,we will take it in our stride,and Monday onwards,work for the Lok Sabha elections will start,” Gehlot concurs. “There will be no looking back.”

“I have honestly given my 100 per cent. If we still do not make it,there is nothing to regret. Such is democracy. But my calculations after the feedback meetings say we will touch 95 (out of the 199 seats that went to polls),” he adds.

Even as he puts up a stoic front,Gehlot confesses he worries about the schemes that he hand-crafted and nurtured — the free medicine scheme,the pension scheme and the metro rail — projects that will always be known as his gifts to the state.

Be it odd-jobs man Birender Tiwari or security officer Virendra Koli,no one wants to think that Gehlot might be on his way out.

“He has worked so hard. Day and night this house had been bustling with people and saab never disappointed anyone. He is so accessible that even we manage to go up to him directly with our problems,” says Koli,who has been posted at the CM residence for seven years now.

If Sunday brings bad news,the Gehlot family says,they will move out of the pink bastion of power with as little as they had come in with. The five residents — Gehlot,Sunita,son Vaibhav,daughter-in-law Himanshi and their toddler grand-daughter — are known to live a frugal life. A self-confessed Gandhian,Gehlot doesn’t let the family use red-beacon vehicles and fiercely protects their privacy. The family might have stepped in over the last two months to campaign in his home constituency Sardarpura in Jodhpur,while Gehlot was on a whirlwind tour of the state accompanying the party leadership,but that is where their role ends.

Getting finally a few relaxed days last week,he took them out for dinner to Jaipur’s famous LMB restaurant. They also paid a quick visit to Jain temple Choolgiri,on a hilltop on the city’s outskirts,to “say thanks”.

Sunita insists her husband hasn’t changed over the years,and that CMship means little for the man who did not take any dowry at their wedding,came in a van with just 35 baraatis and,years later,refused to let the guest list surpass 500 for daughter Sonia’s wedding.

“Even before marriage,he had told me that his priority would be serving the nation and politics,and I do not grudge him that. In the last 36 years of our marriage,he has been central minister thrice and CM twice. Whether he is in power or not does not change a thing in the household. He will not sleep until 1.30 am and work all his waking hours,and I will continue to be in-charge of the household. So where is the change?” she says.

Gehlot interrupts to say that they make take a holiday. “Not in London or Dehradun though,” he adds with a chuckle. Arch rival and royal Vasundhara Raje owns houses at both the destinations.