Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday, if party sources are to be believed, mobilised more MLAs than the magic number to avert the crisis lurking at his government in the state, after Deputy CM Sachin Pilot raised a banner of revolt on Sunday. The party, however, on the instructions of Sonia Gandhi, is working to find a middle ground.
The first attempt of the Congress is to give a chance to Pilot before going for a show of strength in the Assembly, as no statement has come from him directly. Sources say that the party is ready to talk with the young leader, but there is a stalemate regarding the state president’s post. Pilot wants to remain the president till the panchayat elections.
Meanwhile, the Congress has sent a message to the state legislators who took Pilot’s side, asking them to withdraw or else their membership would be cancelled. In the meantime, a meeting of the Legislative Party has been called again on Tuesday, in which Pilot has also been invited. If Pilot comes for this meeting, everything will be sorted out, sources say.
On the other hand, CM Gehlot is fully confident that if need be, he will prove his majority in the House. Judging from the statistics, he has arranged the magic number of MLAs of over 101 for 200 seats. After this, if there’s any game on the lines of Madhya Pradesh, the 19 Congress MLAs who are being seen to be supporting Pilot, their membership will be cancelled. Thus, the majority figure in the 181-seated assembly is 91. The Congress has more MLAs than this, hence there is no threat to the government. This is the reason why Gehlot is not in the mood for any kind of concession. But again, a section of the Congress does not want young leaders like Pilot to leave the party as this will send a wrong message. Hence, a middle ground is being sought.
The path of the BJP is not very easy for Pilot either. Even if he joins the BJP, he will have to leave the state politics and go to Delhi. The leader of the state is Vasundhara Raje and Gulab Kataria.
Hanuman Beniwal, who has formed an alliance with the BJP, is offering him to join his party. Kirodilal Meena, a BJP M P, is also trying to form a third front. There are two problems awaiting Pilot— one, some MLAs who supported him might back out; and two, he will have to struggle for a long time if he joins the BJP. Looking into both the probabilities, Pilot can reconsider his return to the Congress as both need each other.
The Tuesday meeting of the Congress is important. Party leaders like K.C. Venugopal, Avinash Pandey, Vivek Bansal, Randeep Surjewala and Ajay Maken sent a joint report to the high command. Sources say that in response to the report, the high command told them to find a middle ground, if possible. If Pilot turns up for the meeting, the matter may be settled, sources said.