Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said that he was “never distanced” from his colleague Sachin Pilot, who led a rebellion against the former Rajasthan chief minister in July 2020.
His remarks came as he attended a programme marking the 25th death anniversary of Pilot’s father and former union minister Rajesh Pilot.
“When have we been separated? We are always together and share a lot of love. This is only the media that says that there is distance between us,” Gehlot was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
On Saturday, Congress national general secretary Pilot met Gehlot at his residence and invited him to the tribute ceremony of his father, setting off speculations of a possible reconciliation between the two leaders.
The difference between the two leaders began after the Congress defeated BJP in the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly polls. While Pilot was largely given the credit for the results, the top post was awarded to Ashok Gehlot for a third time. Pilot, meanwhile, was made his deputy.
In July 2020, Pilot led a rebellion against Gehlot—together with 18 loyal MLAs.
Since then, the Rajasthan unit of Congress has operated with two parallel camps – one which is loyal to Gehlot and the other to Pilot.
On Wednesday, Pilot and Gehlot shared the stage for the first time in five years on Rajesh Pilot’s death anniversary. Gehlot said that Rajesh Pilot left them too soon and the pain of his loss will always remain.
“We still remember his love. We paid our tribute to him today. We were together as Members of Parliament for 18 years, those memories got refreshed,” he said.
Rajesh Pilot was killed in a road accident in June 2000 at Bhandana in his parliamentary constituency Dausa, about 50 km from Jaipur.
Ved Prakash Solanki, Congress leader and close aide of Pilot, termed Wednesday a historic day for Rajasthan and the party. “Many party workers, divided over the years, smiled unitedly after this meeting of Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot. We always stood with Pilot...all the genuine workers of the Congress were in Dausa and accepted the invitation to come and see the two leaders together. They all came to see the Congress united again,” Solanki was quoted as saying by HT.
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