Resolve differences before padyatra enters Rajasthan; KC Venugopal advises Gehlot & Pilot

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal held a closed-door meeting with Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot.

Amid the controversy that erupted after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot called his former deputy Sachin Pilot a traitor, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal met both leaders and advised them to resolve the differences.

KC Venugopal was in Jaipur on November 29 to review preparations for Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is scheduled to enter Rajasthan on December 4.

Sources said Venugupal held a two-hour-long meeting with the Congress legislators and warned them to refrain from making incendiary public statements.

Even the party will not hesitate to drop leaders from the council of ministers if found violating the party's norms, sources added. Venugopal later had a closed-door meeting with Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.

The tussle between the two leaders came to a head after Ashok Gehlot in an interview to NDTV called Sachin Pilot a traitor for colluding with the BJP to topple his government in 2020.

Pilot had taken up the matter with the newly elected party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi.

The infighting in Rajasthan, one of the only two states where the Congress is in power, is the first test of Kharge’s leadership as the party can’t afford to go into assembly elections in 2023 with a fractured unit.

Pilot loyalist Khiladi Lal Bairwa, an MLA, recently said the high command should seek the opinion of MLAs on the chief minister before the Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Rajasthan.