In an effort to steer the 20-month-old Congress government in Rajasthan out of crisis, top Congress leaders, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Monday spoke to Sachin Pilot and asked him to head to Jaipur and resolve his differences with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Other leaders who spoke to him include former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, senior leader Ahmed Patel and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal.
Rajya Sabha member and a close aide of Mr. Gandhi, Rajeev Satav, is also being sent as an emissary to Jaipur to initiate talks between the two factions.
The decision to initiate talks now rested entirely on Mr. Pilot, said a senior Congress leader.
Congress sources claimed that the group supporting the Deputy Chief Minister wanted key portfolios like Home and Finance for its nominees and wanted the party to retain Mr. Pilot as Rajasthan Congress chief.
The sources also claimed that also on the table were demands to make four MLAs, supporting Mr. Pilot, Ministers in the Ashok Gehlot Cabinet as well as have a say in deciding 50% of the candidates in the upcoming Panchayat polls in the State.
Mr. Pilot, so far, has not issued any public statement and also did not respond to The Hindu’s attempt to reach him for his comments.
