Sachin Pilot Meets Rahul Gandhi Again. After Punjab, Is it Rajasthan's Turn Now?

Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday met Rahul Gandhi for the second time in a week, fueling rumours of a leadership change in Rajasthan. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi was also part of the meeting in Delhi. After Punjab, the grand old party seems to have focused its attention on Rajasthan, where Pilot, last year, led an unsuccessful attempt to remove Ashok Gehlot from the chief minister post.

Pilot supporters want Congress to change the leadership in Rajasthan just as the party did in Punjab last week, replacing Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi. Some notable Congress leaders, of the Pilot faction, are now publicly demanding for his long-due promotion.

Rajasthan Congress vice-president Rajendra Chaudhary, in a recent statement, said that it was Pilot who ensured the party’s victory in the last assembly elections, but someone else is reaping the benefits of his hard work. A Pilot loyalist, Chaudhary, is a former cabinet minister in Rajasthan

Mahesh Sharma, former Congress general secretary in Rajasthan, told News18 that making Pilot the CM would also benefit the party in the upcoming elections. “The Congress government was formed in Rajasthan based on Pilot’s hard work. In such a situation, the high command should make Pilot the Chief Minister of Rajasthan,” said Sharma, who is considered to be on Pilot’s team.

It is not just Pilot’s Delhi visits that have created a political buzz. The Congress leader also met Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi earlier this week. Notably, Joshi had a tiff with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal in the Assembly after which he surprisingly adjourned the house sine die only to later reconvene it.

While an immediate change in leadership may not be on cards in Rajasthan, the Congress high command is expected to give its green light to cabinet expansion in the state to include some of Pilot’s loyalists. Congress general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Ajay Maken, on Thursday said the roadmap for cabinet expansion is ready and an announcement will be done once Gehlot, who has fallen sick, gets well.

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