New Delhi: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge will chair a key strategy meeting on Rajasthan affairs on July 6 during which the party hopes to work out a solution to the vexed Gehlot-Pilot feud.
“Khargeji has called the entire AICC team for the strategy meeting. Several senior state leaders have also been called to the meeting. Rahulji may also attend the meeting,” AICC in charge of Rajasthan SS Randhawa told ETV Bharat.
Elections for the 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan will take place later this year. The Congress hopes to retain power on the basis of its social welfare schemes but the old power tussle between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot has been a cause of concern among the AICC managers.
Over the past years, several attempts have been made by the high command to broker peace between Gehlot and Pilot to ensure the party is able to keep the BJP at bay but the issue keeps resurfacing. The strategy meeting was earlier scheduled to take place on July 3 but had to be postponed as chief minister Ashok Gehlot injured his legs.
Also read: Gehlot-Pilot tiff: Back-channel negotiations fail, Congress still hopeful of breakthrough
As the chief minister is attending public events in a wheelchair, it was not clear if he would attend the July 6 strategy session or join it online, said party sources. The meeting on Rajasthan has generated hopes among the party managers as Rahul and Kharge resolved a similar old power tussle in another poll-bound state Chhattisgarh where senior minister TS Singh Deo felt neglected.
Hours after the strategy session on Chhattisgarh got over, Rahul and Kharge cleared the decks for Singh Deo to be named as deputy chief minister, a move which was received very well in the state unit. “The idea was to present chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo as a team,” said a senior AICC functionary.
On his part, Pilot welcomed the AICC decision and congratulated Singh Deo on his promotion. Pilot has been both a deputy chief minister and the state unit chief and may be made the state unit chief again which will allow him to have a say in the organizational matters and ticket distribution. The sitting state unit chief GS Dotasara is a close aide of Gehlot.
Alternatively, a new person may be named the new state chief to maintain balance between the Gehlot and Pilot camps as Congress does not want to lose either Gehlot or Pilot. On May 29, Rahul heard the views of both Gehlot and Pilot separately for around 4 hours. Later, AICC general secretary organization KC Venugopal, flanked by Gehlot and Pilot, said the party will fight the Rajasthan polls unitedly.
According to party insiders, the high command had assured Pilot that it will look into his key demands including taking action against corruption cases of former BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje and probing exam paper leaks. Since then, Gehlot has not shown any signs that he may start a probe against Raje but has announced strict punishment for those involved in exam paper leaks.
“The good thing is that Pilot has kept calm and has not aggravated the situation. We hope a solution emerges after the July 6 meeting. The party has a fair chance to retain power if we go to the polls as a united team. However, AICC in-charge Randhawa recently hinted that sometimes leaders were required to sacrifice for the party when he was questioned about Pilot,” said the AICC functionary.
