New Delhi: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and incumbent party chief Mallikarjun Kharge will chair a crucial strategy meeting on poll-bound Rajasthan on Friday.
“Yes, the meeting will be held on May 26 at 4 pm. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, state unit chief Govind Dotasara and other senior leaders belonging to the state have been invited for the meeting,” AICC in charge of Rajasthan SS Randhawa told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, the strategy meeting comes days after the party registered a resounding victory in Karnataka, where the Congress presented a united team in state unit chief DK Shiv Kumar and CLP leader K Siddaramaiah. “Though the main focus of the party will be the welfare agenda being implemented by the Gehlot government, there is a need to present a picture of unity in Rajasthan on the lines of Karnataka,” said a senior AICC functionary involved with Rajasthan affairs.
“The people are liking the welfare scheme, and are in a mood to back the Congress again but prefer to see a united team,” he said. The leader was referring to the Ashok Gehlot vs Sachin Pilot power tussle that has been a concern with the high command for a long time now.
Pilot has also been called for the strategy meeting on Friday as he had been a former state unit chief and played an important role behind the party’s victory in the 2018 assembly polls. Though Pilot wanted to be chief minister, he had to settle for being Gehlot’s deputy. Since then, Pilot had been pressing for a regime change but the high command has decided to go to polls under Gehlot’s leadership.
“Pilot has ambitions but the issues that he has been raising are the ones that the Congress too had been flagging. As far as the differences between the two senior leaders are concerned, I am sure they can be resolved amicably. After all, both Gehlot and Pilot have been talking about the need to bring the Congress to power again in the 2023 polls. That precisely is what the high command wants,” said a senior AICC functionary.
“Nobody in the Congress wants to lose a leader like Sachin Pilot,” he said. That was a strong indicator that Pilot has been invited for the May 26 strategy meeting at the instance of the high command and may be given some important tasks for the coming assembly polls, just four months away.
Pilot also played a crucial role in the victory of the three nominees for the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan Mukul Wasnik, Pramod Tiwari and Randeep Surjewala. Pilot’s latest salvo was fired at Gehlot recently when he urged the state government to take action in matters related to corruption cases of former BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
AICC in-charge Randhawa recently said that the issue was for Gehlot to respond and that the Congress was focused only on strengthening the organization and winning the coming polls. “I hope Kharge would convey a message of unity to all the Rajasthan leaders just like he did in Karnataka,” said the AICC functionary.
Also read: "Ashok Gehlot's leader is not Sonia Gandhi but Vasundhara Raje": Sachin Pilot rekindles spat
