Amid the fast-changing political developments in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on July 18 said he has not been on speaking terms with former deputy CM and dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot for the past 18 months.
"There was no dialogue between us since the last one and a half years. A minister who doesn’t talk to the chief minister, doesn’t take his advice, keeps no dialogue with him... There can be opposition, but dialogue is necessary in a democracy," Gehlot said, according to a report by Hindustan Times quoting an interview that the CM gave to a TV channel.
Gehlot, however, added that in case Pilot decides to return to the Congress fold, he will welcome the 42-year-old "with a hug".
"He was three years old when I became MP for the first time. I have ties with his family going back decades. I will welcome him with a hug," Gehlot said. The 69-year-old Congress veteran claimed that Pilot and the legislators supporting him had planned to flee on June 10, but he had managed to quell their attempts.
"They were planning to leave at 2 am. I had to save the government. I woke up all the collectors at 1 am and I asked all party leaders to reach Jaipur the next day and almost all of them reached. Then these people realised the truth and started saying there was no conspiracy and there was no need for placing MLAs under lockdown. But I had proof then and I have proof now," Gehlot said, according to the report.
The chief minister also claimed that while Pilot wanted to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his MLAs were unwilling to do so. He also spoke about Jyotiraditya Scindia, the senior Congress leader from Madya Pradesh who had switched sides to the BJP in March, thus engineering the fall of Kamal Nath-led Congress government there.
"You should not betray the party, the party has given you so much. I have been a three-time central minister, three-time PCC chief, three-time AICC general secretary and three-time CM because I went through the grind in the NSUI and Youth Congress. Leaders from our generation worked hard and stayed loyal to the party and its ideology and so we are where we are today," Gehlot said.
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