‘Either he remains in the party without creating trouble or else he won’t be persuaded to stay in the party’.
NEW DELHI: After former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin’s Pilot’s fast created a stir in the Congress, sources have suggested there may be no decision taken against Pilot and talks will be held to resolve persisting issues with him. However, if he firms up his demands against Congress, then he may not be stopped from leaving the party.
Word is that Rahul Gandhi may not have intervened in the whole process of putting out the notice against Pilot. Multiple sources have confirmed that Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who is currently the in-charge of the Rajasthan unit, had put out the notice on his own, as he found Pilot’s fast as an “anti-party activity”. A source said, “Randhawa is in-charge of Rajasthan and is authorised to do that. Moreover, Rahul Gandhi does not intervene much. He mostly oversees the decisions or checks things at the end of decisions.”
It is also believed that the hierarchy system of the party was functioning as it was supposed to, and Malikarjun Kharge (AICC president) had also been at peace with the decisions of Randhawa.
As the matter has evolved, senior leaders indicate that there would be no action taken either on Pilot or on Ashok Gehlot. It is also being heard in political circles that a question was raised in the meeting that if Pilot’s fast was anti-party activity, then what was Gehlot’s September rebellion? And if action is to be taken against Pilot, why was there no action taken against Gehlot when he “defied” the Gandhis?
However, questions are being raised as to what made national leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera, go ballistic against Pilot now when he had been needling Gehlot’s government from the last couple of years.
A source who was in Rajasthan during the ongoing Pilot crisis said, “Now is not the time to conduct any public activity which would eventually harm party interests. Rajasthan’s Assembly elections are near. He doing such acts is akin to blackmailing. At this time, the party should be united. So neither Rahul Gandhi would like it nor would any other leader who have been trying to fix the party structure and are preparing for elections in Karnataka.”
The way forward for Pilot, sources within the party say, is either he remains in the party without creating trouble or else he would not be persuaded to stay in the party. A party functionary said, “Congress will try to convince him not to perform activities which go against the party’s interests and if he abides by that, there are chances that he may have better future in the coming time, but if he remains adamant, then he can go wherever he wants. Ambitions and party interests should go hand-in-hand or else the person has no future in the party.”
The final call is, as has been decided by the party, Ashok Gehlot will stay as the CM and Sachin Pilot will either sit calmly or leave the party. Sources suggested that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had called him a couple of times to resolve the matter after the notice was served.
However, it is also being realised by senior leaders that he may not be given extra importance anymore by the Congress machinery. Moreover, since lately, several leaders close to the top leadership had been claiming that if Sachin Pilot remains in the party, he will be made the chief of the Campaigns Committee in the state and also projected as the CM face for the upcoming elections.
However, a top source denied any such thing being decided yet. He said, “There is no clarity over that, such news could be planted.”