Tough task for Cong in Rajasthan over Gehlot, Pilot camps

New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) The Congress in Rajasthan continues to face a tough task in balancing the equation between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, as the party is set to announce its state committee.

The Congress had appointed Govind Singh Dotasra as the state chief but the committee has not yet been announced. Dotasra had replaced Sachin Pilot, who had led a revolt against Gehlot last year.

Congress state in-charge Ajay Maken has been meeting all the stakeholders so that none of the two camps feels alienated, said sources.

In Rajasthan, the party saw a major internal crisis last year after Sachin Pilot raised a banner of revolt. However, he later came back following a truce. Trouble, however, in the state seems to be far from over.

Sources said Sachin Pilot wants his loyalists to be reinstated in the party positions as well as in the council of Ministers, particularly Ramesh Meena and Vishvendra Singh. Both were suspended and removed as state ministers when Pilot with his 18 MLAs camped in Haryana's Manesar in an open rebellion against the Gehlot leadership.

But months after Pilot was back into the party fold, the Congress still has the hard task to put its house in order.

The party lost the rural polls due to differences among the state leaders, however, it was able to make a comeback in the urban local body polls.

While Gehlot met the party leaders when he came to attend the meeting called by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi on December 19, the issue of cabinet expansion has not yet been settled.

Gehlot had blamed the Covid-19 situation for the loss in the rural polls. "In district council and Panchayat polls, the results were not to our expectation and from the past nine months our government was involved in the Covid management and our priority was to save lives and livelihood of the people," he said.

After making a comeback in the urban body polls Gehlot's mood seemed to be upbeat, the Congress high command, however, does not appear to be too keen to alienate any of the factions.