Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have decided to lay the foundations for negotiations with Sachin Pilot: sources
New Delhi:
Sachin Pilot, who has openly rebelled against Congress and claimed the support of 30 deputies – enough to bring down the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan – has yet to meet with the Gandhis.
The 42-year-old Deputy Chief Deputy Minister of Rajasthan has been in Delhi since yesterday with a group of loyal MPs.
During his last conversation with Gandhi’s emissary nine days ago, he reportedly presented his cards.
Sources told GalacticGaming that before any meeting, Congresswoman Sonia Gandhi and her son and MP Rahul Gandhi decided to lay the groundwork for negotiations, if necessary.
The Gandhis have made their position known through their trusted envoy, sources say, but this time Sachin Pilot refused to accept anything less than the post of chief minister.
Nine days ago, the Gandhi men told him that at some point he would become chief minister, but that would take time and that he was young enough to wait. After all, he was already chief deputy minister, head of the Congress in Rajasthan and responsible for five ministries.
Pilot says his decision to settle for a member of Parliament for Ashok Gehlot in 2018, after Congress won a victory in Rajasthan, did not bear fruit. Since then, the gap between Chief Minister Gehlot and his sulky deputy has only widened.
When Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Madhya Pradesh Congress in March, taking 22 deputies and overthrowing the government of Kamal Nath, Mr. Pilot was also said to be in talks with the BJP.
“He had worked in tandem with Jyotiraditya Scindia to get away,” said sources, adding that the BJP had even hoped that it would deliver in the Rajya Sabha elections but to their disappointment, this did not happen .
Allegations that the BJP was in talks with Mr. Pilot for a takeover in Rajasthan culminated in Rajya Sabha’s election last month for three rounds, when Chief Minister Gehlot alleged an attempt by the BJP to ” buy the deputies of his party for a coup. Sachin Pilot openly discredited such a speech, saying that all of the congressional deputies were intact, which, he said, was proven when the party won two of Rajya Sabha’s three seats.
Gehlot has ordered an investigation into the alleged attempts to remove his government. For Pilot, the breaking point was the one where he was summoned for questioning as part of the Special Operations Group’s investigation. A summons was also sent to Mr. Gehlot, but that does not matter, according to sources close to Mr. Pilot, since the investigators report to the Chief Minister.
“No one wants to leave their home, but they cannot continue to endure this kind of humiliation; my MPs and supporters are extremely hurt and I will have to listen to them,” Pilot said this morning to lead journalist Javed Ansari.
Congress leadership was aware of the brewing issues, sources say, but wanted minimum points of agreement before meeting with Pilot.
When Mr. Scindia left Congress, he claimed that he had not had a meeting with the Gandhis for nearly a year.
