Rajasthan politics: Chidambaram suggests Sachin Pilot to return and sort out things

Rajasthan: As the top Congress leadership tries to calm Sachin Pilot and bring him back to the party crease, veteran party leader P Chidambaram had phone conversation with the rebel leader and said the rebellion will be forgotten.

After moving the Rajasthan High Court against the disqualification notices served to him and the other rebel MLAs, Sachin Pilot called up Chidambaram to seek his advice.

Chidambaram told that all issues could be discussed and Pilot could be put in touch with party leadership. "I just reiterated that the leadership had publicly invited him to meet with it and all issues can be discussed. I advised him to seize the opportunity," said the veteran leader who shares a cordial relation with Sachin Pilot.

Sources in Congress said Chidambaram told Sachin Pilot that the rebellion by him and his camp of MLAs will be a closed chapter and the ongoing case against him will be a mere technicality.

This was a return call made by Sachin Pilot as just a day ago Chidambaram had spoken to him and asked him to return to the party crease and things could be sorted out. Chidambaram is also said to have promised that the situation will not be restored to what it was before in the Ashok Gehlot government where Sachin Pilot felt sidelined. Chidambaram then hinted at a possibility of accommodating Sachin Pilot in the central leadership.

On Tuesday, Sachin Pilot and his camp of 18 MLAs skipped the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting to which senior leaders of the party invited him. He was asked to attend the meeting to discuss the issues and solve the problems he is facing in the Rajasthan government. With his no-show at the CLP meeting, Congress stripped Sachin Pilot of his roles as the Rajasthan PCC chief and Deputy CM in the Gehlot government.

Sachin Pilot, on the other side, clarified that he is not joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that he took pains to defeat in Rajasthan.