Bharat Jodo Yatra reaches halfway mark in Rajasthan, ceasefire continues between Gehlot and Pilot

Jaipur: The ongoing conflict between Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot has taken a halt as the top leader of the party Rahul Gandhi is in the state with his Bharat Jodo Yatra. The BJY has reached its halfway-mark in the state and is going on peacefully till now keeping aside all apprehension of a political tug-of-war between the two top leaders of the state unit of the party. 

Both Gehlot and Sachin accompany Rahul every day in the Yatra and Rahul has not shown any special inclination towards either of them so far. His focus is entirely on the Yatra. Rahul is giving equal importance to both Gehlot and Sachin and meeting leaders of both factions.

Rahul is not discussing the politics of the Rajasthan Congress, say leaders from BJD

The leaders participating in the Yatra said that Rahul is not discussing the politics of the Rajasthan Congress. ’His points of discussion are the schemes of the government, service delivery and other issues pertaining to the problems of common men,’ said a leader marching in the Yatra. 

The supporters of both Gehlot and Sachin have also kept quiet till now. There was a social media war between supporters on the day of the result of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh as Gehlot was in-charge of Gujarat and Pilot was of Himachal Pradesh, but this has not impacted the Yatra and was confined to social media only. 

Now, the Yatra is heading towards Dausa, which is the bastion of Sachin Pilot. It will reach Dausa on the morning of December 14, and will remain there till the December 18. The party sources are expecting a show of strength by Sachin Pilot during the stay of Yatra in Dausa. "It will be interesting to see how the Gurjars react to the Yatra as they are annoyed with the party and especially CM Ashok Gehlot because of his statements for Sachin Pilot," said a senior leader of the party. 

Notably, the political temperature was at its peak before the Yatra because of Gehlot’s TV interview in which he had called Pilot a ‘traitor’ and calm down the situation, organizational general secretary KC Venugopal was sent by party high command who conveyed both the leaders and their supports that they have to focus only on the BJY for now. Nothing else will be tolerated. 

In the meantime, the Yatra was in Sawai Madhopur on Tuesday and got a grand welcome in the morning. Party’s communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh said that the response of the people was unprecedented. He informed the Yatra will complete its 100 days on December 16th and there will be a music concert of singer Sunidhi Chouhan in Jaipur to celebrate this.