A day after Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot agreed to a joint fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in assembly elections later this year, Gehlot on Tuesday called upon party workers to exercise “patience” and wait for their opportunity to serve.
On Monday, the two leaders held a four-hour meeting with the Congress leadership to iron out differences that have roiled the state unit for four years. The contours of the agreement weren’t immediately clear, but a senior Congress leader who asked not to be named said “core issues have not yet been resolved completely”.
Talking to reporters before leaving for Jaipur, the CM said: “I remember the words of Sonia Gandhi who at the Congress convention had asked party workers to have patience and they would get to serve the party in some way. I keep this in my heart and tell partymen to have patience. They would get the opportunity to serve the party in some way. So I call for patience, patience, patience.”
Asked if he expected Pilot to work with him now, the CM said: “If he (Sachin Pilot) is in the party then why won’t he do this.” “It is for the high command to decide what role one plays.”
The conflict between Gehlot and Pilot dates back to December 2018 when both lobbied for the CM’s post after the Congress returned to power in Rajasthan. The repeated sniping between the two leaders came to a head again earlier this month, when Pilot launched a march to protest apparent inaction against corruption by the Congress government.
