Eyes On Polls, After Karnataka, Congress Shifts Its Focus To Rajasthan 

After the victory in the Karnataka polls over to the satisfaction of Congress, the party is now shifting its focus to Rajasthan. Amid a continuing tussle between the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, the  Congress leadership will likely hold a meeting in Delhi on May 25.

Keeping in mind the assembly polls slated in a few months from now in Rajasthan, which remains a divided house for Congress, the meeting is seen as an attempt by the high command to once again build a truce between the warring factions.

As per the sources in Congress, Congress leader Sachin Pilot has been summoned to Delhi along with the Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Randhawa.  Both loth leaders will likely meet the party chief Mallikarjun Kharge regarding the continuing power tussle in the Congress unit in Rajasthan since 2020. 

Pilot who was supposed to tour to Karauli district has cancelled his travel plan and left for Delhi to attend the meeting. Earlier this month, 45-year-old Pilot Pilot launched a 125-kilometre 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' from Ajmer to Jaipur to raise the issue of corruption during the previous BJP regime led by Vasundhara Raje and cases of paper leaks in government recruitment exams in the present Congress government.

On the concluding day of his yatra on May 15, Pilot put forward three demands - action against corruption charges on the previous BJP government, disbandment and reconstitution of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reconstitution, and compensation for those affected by the paper leaks - and demanded action by the end of this month.

The former deputy CM had given the ultimatum of 15 days and claimed that if the state government did not act on his demands by May 31, he would launch a state-wide protest.

"Since assembly elections are just five months away, Congress must solve this crisis in Rajasthan. The tussle between the two leaders has also affected the party structure in the state largely. The Congress unit is kind of divided and workers lack the zeal to perform. If Congress wants to repeat the government in Rajasthan, the only way is to resolve the crisis", a senior Congress leader told Outlook. According to another source in the party, the meeting shall take place before the Congress leader leaves for a tour on May 28. 

Amid the ongoing tussle between the two, reacting on the Pilot's ultimatum, Rajasthan Congress chief Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that it was up to Gehlot to respond to the ultimatum that Pilot had given to Gehlot.

When asked about the Gehlot-Pilot tussle, Randhawa said, "For now, it is the CM who can respond to Pilot as the ultimatum has been given to him. As far as the party is concerned, when something comes up, I shall share". Earlier also on Saturday while responding to a question on Pilot's yatra, Randhawa had said that Congress has nothing to do with it and Pilot was conducting it on a personal level.

Replying to another query on the future of Sachin Pilot in the party, Randhawa had said, "The Congress party never wants to expel anyone, especially those who are with it for a long time. Earlier also, the party did not expel anyone, and for those who left, their present condition one can see".

On Tuesday Rajasthan BJP president C. P. Joshi alleged that the Congress government in the State has broken all records of corruption. Joshi said the BJP will organise a protest in the State capital Jaipur on June 7 on the issues of corruption, government recruitment examination paper leaks and deteriorating law and order, among others. During the press conference, he also brought up the recent seizure of Rs 2.31 crore in cash and gold weighing one kilogram from a locked cupboard in the basement of Yojana Bhawan, a government office building in Jaipur and so far state's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a joint director of the Department of Information Technology.