Jaipur: When Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met his former deputy Sachin Pilot on Thursday at the former's official residence on his invitation, both were all smiles. But the question being asked in political circles was: would it be possible for them to forget their bitterness?
Senior party leaders KC Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Avinash Pande, and PCC chief Govind Dotasara were present during the meeting. Even though the Congressmen tried to project a unified front, there was stiffness in their body language. The meeting was held a day before the special assembly session scheduled to begin on Friday. Gehlot has said that his government will move a vote trust to prove its majority.
Gehlot has been keeping his numbers safe and the over 100 MLAs supporting him are still put up at Hotel Fairmont. After the homecoming of Pilot and 18 rebels, it takes the Congress tally close to 125. This is enough to ensure that the government is comfortably safe.
A meeting of all legislators was also held after the meeting between Pilot and Gehlot. Addressing the CLP meet Sachin Pilot thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CM Gehlot for appointing him deputy chief minister in 2018.
"Let us put it behind us whatever happened. We would have proved our majority even without these 19 MLAs, but that would not have given us happiness. Because family is family," said Gehlot addressing the CLP.
Speaking to the media, Vishvendra Singh said, “We have been called by the chief minister. We are loyal Congressmen and have shown our loyalty to the party. We had to leave for a month as there was a threat to us.”
In another important development, both Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh’s suspension from the party was revoked. This was announced by state in-charge Avinash Pande on microblogging site Twitter. The move is being taken as the party high command’s initiative to end tension.
