The crisis in the Congress government in Rajasthan seems to have been resolved for now. On Monday, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who along with 18 MLAs had been revolting against his own government, met senior leaders of the Congress in Delhi, paving the way for reconciliation. Sachin Pilot and former party chief Rahul Gandhi held a lengthy conversation in the presence of party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
It is believed they had a “frank, open and conclusive discussion” and Pilot is expected to be rehabilitated in the party. The Rajasthan assembly session will be held on 14 August, when Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is expected to seek a vote of confidence. Though the crisis has been resolved for now, nobody knows how long the truce will be sustained. It will be a Herculean task to make Pilot and Gehlot work together again, considering how bitterly they feuded publicly over the past one month. Sachin Pilot will not easily give up. There are possibilities that if the Congress leadership fails to give him a respectable position after the truce, he might again try to bring down the Gehlot government at an appropriate time in the future. Therefore, now the onus is on the Congress high command to ensure that both Pilot and Gehlot are given respectable positions, so that the truce lasts long. If not, the Congress stands to lose another government to the BJP.