Pilot meets pro-Gehlot minister, sparks speculations

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ajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s unscheduled meeting with cabinet Pratap Singh Khachariyawa on Tuesday sparked another round of political speculation in the state. Pilot who has been plying between Jaipur and Delhi for the last few days, once again rushed to Delhi on Tuesday after his meeting with Pratap Singh Khachariyawa. 

The meeting that lasted for one and a half hours was closed door one and none have revealed that what transpired between them. However, political observers said that the battle of Rajasthan is still not over, and the hush-hush meeting only signified that. 

Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawa, who was with the Pilot, but joined Gehlot lobby after 2020, preferred to make guarded comments, saying, “Me and Sachin Pilot sit on the same seat in the assembly. When we sit side by side in the assembly, many discussions take place between us. It is wrong to say that we do not discuss matters with each other.” 

“Now that Pilot has visited me at home, there is nothing wrong in this. If Pilot Saheb comes here, we will definitely have political discussion, surely he had not visited me for ‘bhajan kirtan’. But you all do understand that they are not to be told,” he added.

However, the day’s development took another interesting turn when Pratap Singh Khachariyawa met the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, just after his meeting with Pilot.  It is understood that Pratap Singh Khachariyawa conveyed the content of the meeting to Gehlot. 

Political circles are abuzz with many speculations: Has pilot met Pratap Singh Khachariyawa to send olive branch to his bete noir Gehlot? Has Pilot got a clear instruction from the party high command to patch his differences with Gehlot, at least for the time being? Or Pilot is still in a warring mood and not really ready to back down? 

Besides this major development, the Gehlot camp is still keeping its fingers crossed on the issue of CMship of Rajasthan. After meeting party supremo Sonia Gandhi last week, Gehlot told the media that 10 Janpath would take a final call on the matter. That definitely kept the political situation in the state quite active. 

On Tuesday, Pilot’s MLA and minister supporters arrived to meet him, in which Murari Lal Meena, Minister Rajendra Gudha, MLA Ram Niwas Gavdia, Mukesh Bhakar, and Vipra Welfare Board President Mahesh Sharma met with many leaders before Pilot left for Delhi.