How Kharge, Rahul brought Gehlot, Pilot together with assurance of justice

NEW DELHI: The Congress top leadership brokered a truce between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and party leader Sachin Pilot after party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi pacified both the leaders with assurance of justice and respect, sources said on Tuesday.

The meeting to bring the two warring leaders together ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in Rajasthan has brought a much needed relief to the party leadership which deliberated and discussed the issues for over four hours.

After the meeting, party General Secretary, Organisation, K.C. Venugopal announced that the Congress will fight unitedly in Rajasthan as he was flanked by both state leaders with smiles on their faces. According to party sources, it was Kharge, who first initiated the talks with Gehlot and was later joined by Gandhi.

The two senior leaders, after discussing with Gehlot for over one and half hours, asked Pilot to join the meeting.

Once, Pilot came, the party source said that the party chief and Rahul Gandhi then held meeting with him separately before bringing both the leaders together.

The source said that in Monday night’s meeting the party leaders didn’t discuss the points raised by Pilot in last few weeks.

The source said that Gandhi dubbed both Gehlot and Pilot as assets to the party and told them that the way in which the Congress won in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka by sidelining the differences, it need to win Rajasthan together and need to defeat the BJP, which is grappling with internal fights.

The source said that both the leaders were told by Gandhi that it has got better prospects in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and need to focus completely on Rajasthan.

The source said that Gandhi also told Gehlot that he will fulfill the promises that he has made to Pilot and also assured him that his dues will be considered.

He told Pilot and Gehlot that they need to sideline their differences and work together to defeat BJP and leave every other issues to be handled by Kharge and him.

The source also said that leaders also discussed the victory in Karnataka, and the divisive politics of the BJP-RSS in the country. The source said that as expected by Pilot, the leaders didn’t discussed the issues raised by the former Rajasthan state unit chief.

The source also said that no formula was discussed during the meeting of the five leaders inside the room. However, senior leaders remained tight-lipped on the last night developments. The Congress state unit has been in a state of turmoil since July 2020, when Pilot staged a revolt seeking a leadership change in the state.

Following the revolt, Pilot, who was the Deputy Chief Minister, was removed from the post. He was also removed as the state Congress President. Since then, there has been tensions within the state party unit and crisis deepened in September last year before the party President’s election. (IANS)

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