The feud between Rajasthan Congress heavyweights Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot which had started earlier this year and remained unfinished due to COVID-19 is seemingly moving towards its sorry end, albeit for the former. According to news reports, senior Congress leader Ajay Maken went to Rajasthan to mediate between the two quarrelling members and reached an ‘amicable’ solution. Maken devised a formula according to which, Sachin Pilot will shift his political ground to New Delhi where the central Congress power resides and support the ‘about-to-be crowned Congress Prince Rahul Gandhi’.
If Rahul Gandhi becomes the President of All India Congress Committee (AICC) once again, which seems like a certainty, then Pilot will be given the post of General Secretary to oversee the development of Congress on the national level.
The said formula further states that the MLAs of the Sachin Pilot clan will be given the big party posts including the ministerial berths based on numbers in the state. At the same time, three to four ministers of the Pilot faction can also be given a spot in the PCC.
And thus Ashok Gehlot gets to remain in the CM seat unperturbed for his remaining tenure. The timid side-stepping of Sachin Pilot proves that Congress does not want its young party leaders to rise to the top party positions. Gehlot, a seasoned politician and a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, had for long wanted to cut Sachin Pilot’s stature in Rajasthan Congress but was waiting for the right moment. With Maken’s Mountbatten plan, Pilot has been flung away from the orbit of Rajasthan.
AICC and its top position have been hijacked by the Gandhi family which keeps on passing from Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi routinely after every state election defeat. The party high command doesn’t listen to anybody apart from those having the Gandhi surname. Therefore, it is rather quizzical as to why Sachin Pilot is sacrificing his fledging political career in Rajasthan to help Rahul Gandhi who seems to enjoy his vacations much more than working on the ground.
It was Sachin Pilot that worked round the clock to bring Congress back in power in the state. But when it came to the CM post, Rahul Gandhi turned a blind eye towards his friend and went with the old Turk Ashok Gehlot.
Read more: How Ashok Gehlot systematically cut Sachin Pilot to size and made him an non-entity in Rajasthan
After Jyotiraditya Scindia skipped the Congress boat in Madhya Pradesh, speculations went abuzz that Pilot, motivated by Scindia’s decision will take a similar route. But the lack of heart from Pilot to take the ultimate step proved to be his undoing and now he is being shipped away from the state.