No conflict in Rajasthan unit, says Congress; questions on Pilot's future persist

Two emissaries from Congress high command sent to fix Rajasthan's power tussle in the party-led government asserted there is "no conflict" among the state leaders and indicated a resolution to the standoff between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former PCC chief Sachin Pilot by the end of the month.

"There is no conflict among the party leaders and they have left the final decision regarding Cabinet expansion to the party high command," said AICC general secretary for Rajasthan Maken after a late Saturday night meeting he held with AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and Gehlot.

On Sunday, the two leaders from the AICC had a meeting with party MLAs, ministers and office bearers at the Congress state office after which he said the party's strategy on issues like inflation and the Pegasus were discussed.

Maken will be returning to the state capital on July 28 and will have one to one meetings with Congress MLAs over district and block appointments. The central leadership is keen that these appointments are made with direct feedback from local leaders. Even in the appointment of members of Boards and Corporations, the inputs will be taken from the legislators.

While Maken stressed in the meeting that all leaders have spoken in one voice that whatever high command decides is acceptable to them and there is "no conflict, no disagreement", there was still no word about the rehabilitation of Pilot, who was removed from the posts of PCC chief and Deputy Chief Minister after he with 18 MLAs had rebelled against Gehlot in July last year.

On Sunday night when Maken and Venugopal, had a meeting with CM Gehlot at his residence, Cabinet expansion was discussed threadbare. Implementation of promises made in the manifesto before the next polls was a key point in the discussions. The manifesto committee of AICC will soon hold a meeting to review the progress in the implementation of the party manifesto of Rajasthan.

The leaders recognised the need to make political appointments in various boards and corporations as soon as possible with discussion and consensus of elected public representatives, state office bearers and senior leaders of the party.

After resolving the internal feud in Punjab Congress, the Congress high command has shifted its attention to the desert state, where a power tussle is brewing for the last two years that had started soon after Congress came to power wresting the state from BJP in 2018.

Congress is keen to avoid a repeat of the Madhya Pradesh scenario in which the party, forming a government in the state after a gap of 15 years, lost in less than one and a half years, as one of the triumvirates of its state leadership Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party and joined the BJP with his band of supporting MLAs following a bitter rivalry with Digvijay Singh and Kamal Nath.

While nine ministerial berths are to be filled in the Rajasthan Cabinet, the final resolution of the power tussle in the state will depend on how Pilot is accommodated.

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