Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot bury enmity with handshake at Congress meet

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot met on Thursday after a month of being at each other’s throats. The bitter rivals came face-to-face during Congress Legislature Party meeting at Gehlot’s residence in Jaipur.

The two leaders were seen smiling, shaking hands before the start of the key meeting called to chart out the party strategy for the Assembly session beginning Friday.  Pilot, Gehlot along with other senior Congress leaders Ajay Maken, Randeep Surjewala were then seen flashing the ‘V’ sign as they met the party MLAs.

This was for the first time in months that Pilot and Gehlot met. Things between them spiralled out of control after Pilot’s open revolt against Gehlot. The Congress leadership made several attempts to pacify Pilot who reportedly insisted on getting the CM chair. However, the party refused to oblige Pilot and instead removed from the post of Rajasthan Congress president. He was also removed as Rajasthan deputy CM.

Meanwhile, the Congress has also revoked the suspension of MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh, who were suspended from the party’s primary membership last month over their alleged involvement in a “conspiracy” to topple the Congress government in the state.

The assembly session in the state will begin on Friday.

The BJP in Rajasthan earlier on Thursday said it will move a no-confidence motion against the Gehlot-led Congress government in the state assembly.

It is not clear whether the state government will opt for a floor test as originally planned, but it is clear that the Chief Minister will use the session to exhibit a show of strength. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal will oversee the CLP meeting.

With the return of Pilot and his loyalists, the Congress now has 107 MLAs in the 200-member Assembly. The party also claims support of up to 13 independent MLAs.