E-Paper
Congress chief meets Gehlot, Pilot amid standoff in Rajasthan
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his rival and former deputy Sachin Pilot have agreed to a joint fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan elections later this year
New Delhi/Jaipur Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his rival and former deputy Sachin Pilot have agreed to a joint fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan elections later this year, the Congress announced late on Monday, after a four-hour meeting between the two leaders and the party leadership to iron out differences that have roiled the state unit.
But the contours of the agreement between the two leaders who have been at loggerheads for four years weren’t immediately clear, and a senior Congress leader who asked not to be named said that the negotiations were “still a work in progress”.
Gehlot arrived at the residence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge at around 6pm on Monday, and the two were joined by Rahul Gandhi, and other senior leaders such as KC Venugopal and state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, said people aware of developments. At around 8.30pm, Pilot entered the residence, the people cited above added, with the meeting lasting for close to another two hours.
Venugopal finally emerged at around 10.15pm with Gehlot and Pilot, and said that the leaders had decided to fight the Rajasthan elections, scheduled for the end of year, unitedly.
“In this discussion, we have decided to fight the election unitedly. Both are in agreement that the Congress party has to go together and definitely we will win the election in Rajasthan,” he told reporters before walking back into the residence.
Rajasthan has not elected an incumbent back to power in nearly three decades.
“It is very clear that Rajasthan is going to be a strong state for the Congress party. We are going to win. Therefore, both the leaders Gehlot ji and Sachin ji have decided to go together. The Congress party will fight elections unitedly,” Venugopal added.
A second Congress leader said that while both leaders wanted the party to return to power, the deadlock was not broken entirely. “But they have said they will fight together and agreed to go along with the decision of the Congress president,” the leader added, asking not to be named.
A third leader added that while no final agreement was reached, the so-called Karnataka model – where two contenders for the chief minister’s chair, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, projected a united face for the campaign and decided on the leadership issue after a thumping victory – was on the table.
The conflict between Gehlot and Pilot dates back to December 2018 when both lobbied for the CM’s post after the Congress returned to power in Rajasthan. In 2020, Pilot led a failed revolt against the Gehlot government, after which he was removed as state unit chief and deputy CM. Then, last year, lawmakers close to Gehlot – who at the time was considered the front-runner for the Congress president’s position -- defied the party leadership to pick the next CM amid speculation that it could be Pilot.
The repeated sniping between the two leaders came to a head again earlier this month, when Pilot launched a five-day march across Rajasthan on May 11, protesting against apparent inaction against corruption by the Congress government.
Earlier on Monday, before the meeting had commenced, Gehlot had said that there was no tradition in the Congress where a leader “demands something” and the party high command “offers it”. “We have never heard of such a formula,” Gehlot added.
He said that the Congress organisation was “strong” and there was no situation in which the party would have to “offer a post to pacify someone.”
“This has not happened in the past and it will not happen in the future. The Congress high command is strong and no leader or worker demands a position. It does not happen like that,” Gehlot said.
DID ANY PILOT SIDE RESPOND?
On Monday, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi also met Madhya Pradesh Congress unit chief Kamal Nath. After the meeting, Rahul Gandhi said, “We had a very detailed meeting right now. Our internal assessment says that we got 136 seats in Karnataka and we are now going to get 150 seats in Madhya Pradesh. What we did in Karnataka, we will repeat in MP”. Madhya Pradesh, ruled by the BJP, goes to the polls later this year.
BJP lawmaker and party spokesperson Ram Lal Sharma attacked the Congress. “The Congress is afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity. The BJP stands united and will form the government in Rajasthan,” Sharma said.
