Rajasthan political crisis: Congress keeps door open for Sachin Pilot

With numbers in its favour, Congress on Monday appealed to Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot to come to the party forum to resolve differences, keeping the door open for a truce.

Read: Not joining BJP, says Sachin Pilot as crisis brews in Rajasthan

Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala also said that several leaders had spoken to Pilot in the past 48-72 hours.

“Nobody leaves the family in anger. Whenever there are problems within the family, the solution also lies within the family and not outside,” Surjewala told reporters ahead of the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party convened by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Congress claimed support of 102 MLAs in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, giving Gehlot a wafer thin majority, prone to troubles in the future.

Get All The Live Updates of Rajasthan Political Crisis Here

“Pilot should tell us when he will come to attend the CLP (Congress Legislature Party) meeting. We have kept our doors open for Pilot and his MLAs. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are keen to resolve the crisis,” said Surjewala, flanked by senior leaders Ajay Maken and Avinash Pande.

The trio was sent by the Congress high command to Jaipur to salvage the situation after Pilot stayed away from Jaipur, angry over the notice to him by the Special Operations Group to probe allegations of poaching of MLAs to topple the government.

A statement issued by Pilot’s office late Sunday night claimed that he had support of 30 MLAs and that the Gehlot government was in the minority. However, the attendance at the CLP meeting showed that fewer MLAs were supporting Pilot than what he had claimed a day earlier.

“We should not give BJP a chance to form the government," he said, adding that Pilot should come back to his home as he is a family member of the Congress.

"If he is angry for any reason, we will convince him," he added.
Surjewala also noted that Pilot had not made any statements against the party and renewed the appeal to him to come back and sort out the grievances by talking to the party leadership.