Speculation rife on Pilot’s next move awaiting reply from Congress high command: Report

New Delhi: Amid speculation over Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s next move, sources close to him on Tuesday said he was firm on his demands, including action against alleged corruption during the previous Vasundhara Raje government, and the party’s top Awaiting definite response from. Permission. While some reports claimed that Pilot may announce the formation of a new party, sources close to him said that he is only focused on fulfilling his demands that the Ashok Gehlot government should end the alleged corruption during the previous BJP rule. Take action against and work on the issues. The case of paper leak related to government recruitment examination like youth has come to the fore.

Sources said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot held meetings with party chiefs Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi last week, but there was no resolution of “core issues” between the two Rajasthan heavyweights. Gehlot and his former deputy have been at loggerheads for power since the Congress formed the government in the state in 2018 and the party is trying to broker a peace between the two ahead of the state assembly elections later this year. .

Speculations are rife that Pilot may give a clear indication about his future on his father’s death anniversary in Dausa on June 11. A source close to him said, “He (Pilot) is waiting for the reaction of the party leadership, the ball is in his court.” Leaders close to Pilot said he has taken a “principled position” and it is not about posts. He said that the issue of corruption and paper leak is his top priority.

Apart from corruption, Pilot’s two other demands included restructuring the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and making new appointments in it, and compensation for those affected by the cancellation of government recruitment exams following the paper leak. Preparations for the program to be organized annually on the death anniversary of Rajesh Pilot are going on in full swing in Dausa and it is being supervised by Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing Murari Lal Meena, who is considered close to Pilot.

“I don’t know from where the speculation about a new party started. I don’t see any merit in such speculation. I work according to the ideology of the party,” Meena told reporters. The Congress had last Thursday said that the party is supreme and will fight the Rajasthan Assembly polls unitedly to emerge victorious, a statement that came after Pilot refused to back down from his demands.

Sources had said that Kharge and Gandhi had separate marathon discussions with Gehlot and Pilot last week to defuse the tension. They later clicked photographs at Kharge’s 10 Rajaji Marg residence here. After the meetings, the party had said that Gehlot and Pilot have agreed to fight the upcoming assembly elections unitedly and left all issues to be resolved by the party high command.

Addressing reporters after the meeting earlier this week, Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal had said, “Both leaders Ashok ji and Sachin ji had agreed to propose these things.” Asked which resolution he was talking about, Venugopal had said, “Both have left it to the (party) high command.”

Gehlot and Pilot have been fighting for power ever since the Congress formed the government in the state in 2018. In 2020, Pilot led a rebellion against the Gehlot government, following which he was removed from the posts of the party’s state unit president and deputy chief minister. , Last year, the high command’s attempt to effect a leadership change in Rajasthan failed when Gehlot loyalists dug their heels in and did not allow a legislature party meeting to take place.

Pilot had last month defied a party warning and observed a day-long fast, hitting out at Gehlot for his “inaction” on alleged corruption committed under the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje.