A prayer for peace: Pilot reaches out to Gehlot, raises hopes in Congress
Congress leaders are hopeful of a new beginning in the Rajasthan party unit after AICC general secretary
Sachin Pilot
broke ice with his celebrated in-house opponent, Ashok Gehlot.
Pilot visited Gehlot at his residence in Jaipur on Saturday and invited him--marking a first--to the prayer meeting being organised on June 11 for the 25th death anniversary of his father,
Rajesh Pilot
.
There's now suspense--and hope--among the Congress campers, of Gehlot reciprocating by visiting Dausa to attend the prayer meeting, something that he has not done for a long time.
Pilot's visit to Gehlot's residence has raised hopes of the melting of a decade-old chill in their relationship, which has turned them into two opposite poles of
Rajasthan Congress
, even when they functioned as then PCC president and chief minister, respectively, resulting in a bitter power-struggle and fallout.
"A prayer meeting is being organised on the occasion of the 25th death anniversary of my father, Rajesh Pilot ji. I thought it would be appropriate to visit Ashok ji and invite him to the prayer meeting," Pilot told ET, when asked about his visit.
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Gehlot, on his part, shared on social media a video clip of Pilot meeting him. "AICC general secretary Shri Sachin Pilot invited me to the programme being organised on the 25th death anniversary of former Union minister, Late Shri Rajesh Pilot. Rajesh Pilot ji and I reached the Lok Sabha together for the first time in 1980, and we were MPs together for almost 18 years. We are still saddened by his sudden demise. His departure was a big blow to the party," Gehlot said.
Both leaders were closeted for about an hour during their meeting.
The meeting comes at a time when the BJP state government of Rajasthan, headed by Bhajan Lal Sharma, is completing one-and-a-half years this week without facing any active anti-government mobilisation on the ground by the state Congress leadership, as current PCC president Govind Singh Dotasara and the leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Tikaram Jully, are widely perceived to be lacking the political stature, reach and skills of Gehlot or Pilot to rally the Congress for a fight back.
Gehlot, 74, now a legislator, has not held any PCC/AICC post since his government was voted out in 2023. Pilot, 47, also an MLA , is currently an AICC general secretary looking after the party affairs of Chhattisgarh.
The visible consolidation of the BJP government in Rajasthan has led to talks within the Congress circles in Delhi and Rajasthan that the time has come to restructure and reactivate the state Congress--where Dotasara has completed five years as PCC chief after he was picked for the post as a compromise nominee after Pilot's revolt in 2020 --in order to start the party mobilisation with an eye on preparing for the next elections in the key Hindi heartland state. Pilot's meeting with Gehlot has added to the party circles' hope of a new dawn.
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