“Sachin Pilot spoke to me yesterday during the day,” Chidambaram confirmed to GalacticGaming.
New Delhi:
Sachin Pilot met with party leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram on Thursday in a startling decision when he and other rebel deputies sued the party over the disqualification notices that had been served on them.
Several senior leaders have reached out to Sachin Pilot since he launched his revolt on Sunday against his former boss, Rajasthan’s chief minister, Ashok Gehlot.
“He spoke to me yesterday during the day,” Chidambaram confirmed to GalacticGaming. “I have just reiterated that management has publicly invited him to a meeting and that all issues can be discussed. I advised him to take the opportunity,” he said.
Congress senior management, the Gandhis, have contacted the rebel leader several times in the past few days, but Sachin Pilot has been largely unresponsive. This is the first known case of Mr. Pilot calling a senior congressional official.
Press Trust of India quoted sources as saying that Mr. Pilot spoke on Thursday to “a senior leader of the southern Indian party, setting the conditions for his return.” The sources also reportedly said that the rebel leader had been informed that “the doors of the Congress party were always open” for him, but that he should return unconditionally.
In addition to Mr. Chidambaram, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also reportedly spoke to Mr. Pilot on Wednesday evening.
Pilot also met with Congress chief Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is now on the side opposed to a battle between the rebels and Congress. Pilot and 18 MPs brought Congress to justice yesterday for notices of disqualification served on them for “anti-party activities”.
Mr. Pilot had previously been removed from office as Deputy Chief Minister and Chief of the Congress of Rajasthan. The measures taken in Rajasthan have evolved in parallel with the attempts to educate the Congress in Delhi.
While a section of congressional leaders said that Pilot had “reached a point of no return” by going to court, the party’s Randeep Singh Surjewala, dispatched from Delhi to manage the crisis in Jaipur, said again today said that “the doors were open for anyone who wanted to return”.
Prime Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, had been asked to suppress his attacks on Pilot, whom he accused of having conspired with the BJP and of having “concluded agreements” to buy deputies for a coup ‘State.
Gehlot was scheduled to speak today at a press conference, but it was Surjewala who briefed the media on audio tapes allegedly of rebel MPs plotting against the Congressional government.
The ITP quoted sources as saying that Mr. Surjewala had held a closed meeting with the chief minister and urged him not to make any public statements against his former assistant.
Major congressional sources say Rahul Gandhi wants to keep Mr. Pilot, who was in his inner circle of helpers, as well as Jyotiraditya Scindia, who left the party in March and joined the BJP.
On Wednesday, Pilot again stressed that he would not join the BJP. While many in Congress read it as a positive signal, a branch suspected that it was gaining time to gain more MPs on its side.
“We want to tell Pilot that if you don’t want to go to BJP, then don’t accept Haryana’s hospitality. If you don’t want to go to BJP, stop talking to a BJP leader or member,” M . Surjewala said the same day.
