Will he or won’t he? Is Sachin Pilot the next leader to quit the Congress?

Rajasthan is slated to go to the polls later this year and the Congress, riding high on the win in Karnataka, would like to see a repeat in the western state. However, the Grand Old Party is facing turbulence in the state – with rumours swirling that the former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot will breakaway and form his own party.

The Congress has refuted all claims that the senior leader will quit the party, with Congress general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa stating that it was the media raising such issues. “I am hearing this from you, I think there is no such thing. He (Pilot) did not have this in his mind before and does not have it now,” he told the media on Tuesday.

The state has seen a power tussle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot since 2018, the year they won the elections and this is one more chapter in this tug of war. But will this end with Pilot’s resignation? Or will the party high command be able to settle the differences once and for all?

Pilot to form new party on 11 June?

Sources close to the 45-year-old Pilot have said that the leader will break away from the Congress and announce a new outfit on 11 June – the death anniversary of his late father Rajesh Pilot.

The move comes amid the constant tug of war for power between Pilot and Gehlot and shortly after the Congress high command sat down with both leaders and after a four-hour discussion announced on 29 May that both have agreed to work unitedly to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. Commenting on the same, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal had said, “We have decided to fight elections unitedly. Definitely, we will win the elections in Rajasthan. Both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot have unanimously agreed with the proposal. It is very clear that Rajasthan is going to be a strong state for the Congress party. We are going to win. Therefore, both the leaders Gehlot ji and Sachin ji have decided to go together. The Congress party will fight elections unitedly.”

Congress President @kharge and @RahulGandhi met this evening with @ashokgehlot51 and @SachinPilot. The Congress party is well on its way to repeat its Karnataka success in Rajasthan as well. pic.twitter.com/i6bSKalfp9

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 29, 2023

The younger Congress leader has three demands from his party, and sources say that if not met, he will then take steps accordingly. As one Congress leader told News18, “He (Pilot) is waiting for a response from the party leadership, the ball is in their court.”

But what are Pilot’s demands from the Congress? The former deputy chief minister has sought a high-level probe into the alleged corruption during the previous Vasundhara Raje-led government, disbanding of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission, which has seen leakage of papers in several exams, its reconstitution via a new law, and compensation for students who have suffered due to the question paper leaks.

In fact, earlier in April, Pilot had sat on a day-long dharna, demanding action in corruption cases during Vasundhara Raje’s tenures as the chief minister. A month later, he also held a Jan Sangharsh Yatra – a five-day yatra – to raise the issue of corruption and paper leaks.

Even after the 29 May meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, Pilot had indicated that he was not willing to compromise on his demands.

However, the Gehlot government believes that acceding to Pilot’s demands would show the administration in a poor light and hurt the government in the run-up to the elections.

This episode is another chapter in the Gehlot-Pilot power struggle. Since 2018, when the Congress came to power in the state, the two leaders have been at loggerheads.

Also read: Sachin Pilot vs Ashok Gehlot: A political SWOT analysis

In 2019 following the Congress’ rout in the Lok Sabha elections, Gehlot had said Pilot should take responsibility for his son Vaibhav’s defeat in Jodhpur. Vaibhav went down to BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat by a huge margin of 2,74,440 votes. Gehlot had then said, “Sachin Pilot said we will win Jodhpur with comfortable margin as we have six MLAs in the constituency. Our campaign was good. I feel he (Sachin Pilot) should own responsibility for that seat (Jodhpur) at least.”

Pilot had then hit back, saying that saying that if the chief minister had campaigned across the state instead of spending too much time in Jodhpur alone, the results could have been different.

Two years later, Pilot revolted against his boss, demanding a “fair share” in power. He had sequestered MLAs loyal to him in a resort to Gurugram, pushing the government to the brink of collapse. However, his rebellion fizzled out, as Gehlot was able to garner support of most of the MLAs.

In 2022, another crisis arose for the Rajasthan Congress when 72 MLAs resigned in protest against the move to make Gehlot party president, which would mean his replacement in Rajasthan, possibly by Pilot.

The power struggle has also seen Gehlot calling Pilot names such as ‘gaddar’ (traitor), ‘nikamma’ (worthless) and coronavirus.

Interestingly, if Pilot leaves the party, he will join the likes of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kapil Sibal, Jitendra Prasada, RPN Singh, Sunil Jakhar, Ashwani Kumar, Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakore, who have all quit the Congress in recent times.

What Congress has to say?

While Pilot has chosen to remain mum on the matter, the Congress has refuted all claims and stated that it was all media-produced.

Congress general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, when asked about, the peace plan, said that 90 per cent of the matter had been resolved and the rest was also not an issue.

Even people close to Pilot have remained non-committal on the issue. Rajasthan minister Murari Lal Meena, who is close to Pilot and overseeing preparations for the programme marking senior Pilot’s death anniversary in Dausa, was quoted by PTI as saying, “I have no idea from where the speculation of the new party started. I do not see any substance in such speculations. I work following the ideology of the party.”

Another Pilot loyalist, Ved Prakash Solanki – representing Jaipur’s Chaksu seat – however, told The Hindu that the party should act swiftly and end this matter. He told the newspaper that Congress workers were confused by the truce enforced in New Delhi and want to know about the future course of action. “We stand with the high command and the Congress party. Positive action on Pilot’s demands will send across the right message.”

There are others who believe that Pilot doesn’t want to leave the Congress but he is being pushed to the decision, as the high command isn’t taking any substantive steps. While it is not certain if he will pull the plug on his Congress ties, one thing is certain – it won’t be good for the party as it prepares to take on the BJP machinery in the upcoming polls in the state.

With inputs from agencies

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