It’s not clear whether it was a mutual agreement between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot or a reconciliation forced by the Congress High Command under compulsion in the wake of assembly elections. Nevertheless the Rajasthan chief minister and his former deputy agreed to go ahead ‘unitedly’ in the presence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge last night in Delhi.
Ambiguity prevailed over the pact between the two leaders prevailed inside the party as also in political circles as Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal did not reveal any formula or terms of the agreement reached between the party veteran and Rahul Gandhi’s young brigade leader who brought the Congress from brink to power in 2018 assembly polls in the state only to be offered a mere a deputy CM’s post.
After all the mudslinging that has been witnessed between the two in the recent past, there is a great sigh of relief in the government’s corridors with Gandhi calling both assets to the party.
Meanwhile, Pilot’s deadline for the Gehlot Government to meet his three demands has expired on Tuesday without any risk. Through Pilot faction leaders and supporters are keeping mum; they are restless on the three demands which Pilot made to public at the culmination of his Jan Sangharsh Yatra in Jaipur on May 15.
Pilot had given an ultimatum to the Gehlot regime to accept the demands or he would launch a statewide Jan Sangarsh. Lakhs of students at the receiving end of paper leak cases were left in the lurch with no one in the government considering of compensating for their losses.
His two other demands were reorientation of Rajasthan Public Service Commission after closure and probe against graft cases during former BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s rule are also hanging fire.
Gehlot’s ten major steps under ‘Mehngai Rahat Camp’ and handing over guarantee cards to 5.71 crore beneficiaries and direct benefit of these schemes to over 1.25 crore families as of now seem to have made the party high command to ignore all other factors (including Pilot’s ultimatum). They have decided to let the sleeping dogs sleep if the party wants to return to power for a second term consecutively in December this year.
Gehlot’s brainchild, implementation of Old Age Pension (OPS) against New Pension Scheme, that benefitting lakhs of employees also has become popular in the country. The Congress won the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka assembly polls with this promise.
Gehlot won over the high command by his unwavering support to Sonia Gandhi and RaGa during Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) raids and interrogation that kept the party’s morale high.
Amidst ifs and buts in the political circles on the success of the pact, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told the media in Delhi, “If he (Sachin Pilot) is in the party, then why won’t he work together.”
Asked if he was sure about Pilot’s commitment to work with him and what would be his role, Gehlot said, “The role is of the high command. Rank doesn’t matter to me. I have been the chief minister thrice and have left no stone unturned in carrying out the work.”
“Today it is my duty to work in the direction of repealing the Congress government, the high command also wants the same. I have introduced many schemes for the public, I am confident that the public will repeat the government this time,” he added.
He further said, “I have said it many times that now the post does not matter to me. I have become CM three times, and have become Union minister. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have put so much faith in me. Now, it is my duty to do whatever the high command wants me to do, to work for the victory of the party, I am doing that. Every class is taken care of. Now, whether Modi comes to Rajasthan or Amit Shah comes, the public knows the reality.”