Jaipur/New Delhi: Congress MLAs were holed up Monday in a resort near Jaipur after a legislature party meeting, where they expressed support for Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and only indirectly referred to Sachin Pilot, whose rebellion threatens his government.
Sources said top party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were also in touch with Pilot, assuring that his grievances will be addressed.
A resolution adopted at the Congress Legislature Party meeting urged "strong disciplinary action" against any party office-bearer or CLP member who does anything to weaken the government or the party.
But the resolution stopped short of naming Pilot, who is the deputy chief minister and also heads the state unit of the party.
Before the meeting, senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala also adopted a conciliatory tone, saying Pilot and other MLAs could still attend the CLP meeting from which they had distanced themselves.
"Doors are open for Sachin Pilot and other MLAs. They will be heard and solutions will be found. This is the discipline of the party," Surjewala, who is the AICC spokesperson, said.
Apart from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, other Ahmed Patel, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal are also learned to have spoken with Pilot.
Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections.
There was no official word on the number of MLAs who attended the meeting at Gehlot's home, but party leaders claimed 106 legislators were there.
If correct, this staves off the immediate challenge posed by Pilot, who claimed on Sunday night that he has the support of over 30 of 107 Congress MLAs in the 200-member assembly.
But at least seven MLAs considered close to Pilot were not spotted at the CM's house.
Among them was Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh, who posted a collage of four photos on his Twitter handle, showing state Deputy CM Sachin Pilot's as part of protests when he was in the opposition.
"With an ailing family member in Delhi," he tweeted before the meeting.
Just hours before meeting, Income Tax officials searched premises in Jaipur said to be linked to local party leaders Rajiv Arora and Dharmendra Rathore, an action criticised by the Congress.
The CLP resolution blamed the BJP for the crisis. On Saturday, Gehlot had accused the opposition party of trying to lure away Congress MLAs.
Asked about speculation that the BJP may support the Pilot camp from outside, party's state president Satish Poonia said "all options" are open.
He said young leaders in the Congress are always "neglected and sidelined" in the Congress.
The CLP resolution demanded strong disciplinary action against any Congress office bearer or CLP member who "directly or indirectly" acted against the party.
Addressing a press conference before the meeting, Randeep Surjewala indicated that Pilot and his supporters were still welcome to attend it.
He said the party's top leadership spoke to Pilot several times in the last 72 hours.
Surjewala said differences in a family can be resolved within the family, suggesting that Pilot and other MLAs should come and discuss their grievances at party forums.
"When a member of the family gets annoyed, he does not make the family fall but sits with family members and resolves the issue," he said.
The meeting began three hours later than scheduled, with MLAs flashing victory signs for the cameras. When they emerged from the CM's house, there were buses waiting to take them to Fairmont hotel on the Delhi-Jaipur highway.
In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bharatiya Tribal Party, and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
The Congress had rushed Pande, Surjewala and Ajay Maken to Jaipur as observers at the meeting, amid a power tussle between its two Rajasthan leaders.
The party had issued a whip ahead of the CLP meeting, indicating disciplinary action against any MLA who failed to turn up.
Pilot, however, had made clear in a statement that he would not attend the meeting. He also claimed that he had the support of over 30 Congress MLAs and some independents.
The current crisis began Friday night when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the government.
The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot's supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him.
