Jaipur : The tough power struggle in the Congress in Rajasthan has taken a new dimension with rebel leader Sachin Pilot fuelling speculation about getting into an apex team of the party.
Where shall our Pilot land? This question seems to be doing the rounds in the party ever since a report of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot joining the team of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has come in.
If sources in one section of the Congress are to be believed Pilot will be joining as general secretary in the Congress Working Committee soon and hence will lead the apex team of the Congress.
The other section is confident that he will be given a decent role and his position in Rajasthan will be elevated.
In fact, Pilot has been in Jaipur since the last few days and has been actively participating in the party’s meetings and protests which he had been avoiding for the last few months.
He was recently seen at a protest against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as MP.
Also, he was seen at the PCC recently where he addressed block presidents and asked them to sweat in the fields.
A party leader speaking with IANS said, “now, you look at his body language, doesn’t he look confident?”
It seems he has been given some assurance about his future role, otherwise why will he be so polite after fighting for his demands for the last four and a half years, he questioned.
Ever since his meeting with the party high command in Delhi, Pilot seems to be a changed man. While he is openly praising Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, he has also assured the party that he will accept anything being offered to him by the party.
Recently, he had good words for Gehlot saying, “Gehlot is trying to take everyone along,” after his meeting with senior leaders in Delhi.
Surprisingly, in 2020, he had rebelled against the state leadership but it was abortive.
Meanwhile, Pilot has yet another reason to smile. He is happy that his demands have been accepted by the party leadership and the state government has announced bringing a stringent law against paper leaks.
CM Ashok Gehlot has announced to bring in a law proposing life term for those accused of paper leaks. Pilot has taken out a march from Ajmer to Jaipur to raise his demands and one amongst these was strict action against paper leak accused.
Now questions are being asked why Pilot has accepted the final suggestion of the central leadership and announced that he is ready to accept whatever role is offered to him.
Sources confirmed that Pilot also met state in charge Sukhjnder Singh Randhawa and three observers who went to his house on Friday.
Why have these seniors visited his place; something is cooking it seems, said party workers.
A few followers of Pilot have been dropped from the Congress Working Committee announced recently and there are chances that they will be inducted back, said party leaders.
Meanwhile, the activeness of senior leader Sonia Gandhi is also being discussed. Sonia will be in Bengaluru where the opposition leaders will be meeting.
Will there be some change after this meeting, is another question being raised among party workers.
The party high command has already announced that the party will go to the assembly polls without a CM face. This is yet another victory for the Pilot camp. This is because the CM is always the face of the party. If the party says that it will go to the polls without a face, it clearly raises many questions, said another party leader.
All eyes are now on what role Pilot gets. This is because earlier, he was given the position of deputy CM with other portfolios. However, he openly rebelled against the state leadership. Even after the rebellion, he was offered a position in Delhi in the central team, but as per sources, he rejected all those posts and insisted on staying in Rajasthan.
The Gehlot camp is least interested in giving him any role. However, the fight is for the eastern Rajasthan seats where Gujjars are quite dominant. The BJP central leadership is focusing on these seats and all senior party leaders be it Prime Minister Narendra Modi, JP Nadda and others have already been touring these areas.
The fight is on, let’s wait and watch how the Congress plays on these seats, said political experts.
IANS with superficial edits