Rajasthan Political Crisis: Ashok Gehlot Snipes At Sachin Pilot As Congress Seeks His Homecoming

Earlier today, speculations went rife about the young leader joining Bharatiya Janata Party soon after his ouster from posts he held in the Rajasthan government.

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A day after sacking Sachin Pilot as Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and removing him from the position of state Congress chief, the grand old party claims of keeping its doors open for the young leader to return and douse off the internal rife with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan. Earlier today, speculations went rife about the young leader joining Bharatiya Janata Party soon after his ouster from posts he held in the Rajasthan government. However, the 42-year-old Pilot rubbished the rumours and said that his counterparts are trying to connect him to the opposition just to malign his reputation in the eyes of the Gandhi family. Reacting to Pilot's remark, senior Congress leader Randeep S Surjewala reportedly said since he has no plans of joining BJP then the Youth leader should immediately block conversations with BJP's Haryana government, leave their security cover and soon return to his home. With this statement, Surjewala's indicated his trust over the matter that Sachin Pilot in no way will join BJP. Besides the leader's trust in Pilot, it is to be noted that in the past five days, the central unit of Congress has made numerous efforts, leaving no stones turned to retain the young leader. However, these instances are completely in contrast with the claims of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who has accused Pilot making excuses and being involved in a conspiracy of toppling the Rajasthan government. According to an India Today report, CM said that "a plan was underway for the past six months to topple his government by horse-trading of MLAs. However, since their plan has failed, now they are thinking of forming a new party with the help of the saffron party." CM Gehlot also claimed that several MLAs in Pilot's team are actually being held hostage at the ITC Grand hotel in Haryana's Manesar. When asked about the central Congress unit's efforts on retaining Pilot despite the heated rift within the same party leaders, Gehlot said, "We have been saying this for the past three days. Whoever is a Congress worker, MLA or minister is always welcome." Meanwhile, the Congress on Wednesday took steps to issue disqualification notice to Sachin Pilot and other dissident Rajasthan MLAs for anti-party activities. The 19 rebel legislators were issued notice by the assembly Speaker and asked to respond by Friday.