Sachin Pilot incommunicado, Congress trying for truce to save Rajasthan government

NEW DELHI: With Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot in Delhi to meet Congress high command and his camp claiming support of 25 MLAs, the Congress is trying to pacify factions led by him and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to save itself more embarrassment as well as the party's government in the state, sources said on Sunday.

The MLAs from the Pilot camp are said to be lodged at different places, with about a dozen at ITC Grand in Gurugram, and a few others are at ITC Maurya in Delhi.

Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot has gone incommunicado since he is not taking phone calls from any Congress leader, including his friends in the party.

Sources said he spoke with Congress Treasurer Ahmed Patel late Saturday night, adding that the Congress was trying to pacify both the camps to save the party from embarrassment.

On the other hand, the Gehlot camp claims that the Chief Minister has the support of 103 MLAs and his government the required numbers in the state Assembly.

An earlier report had said that Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot had arrived in Delhi on Saturday to meet party high command and had sought an appointment with Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi.

According to the sources, MLA P.R. Meena, considered to be from the Pilot group, had sought to meet Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the "stepmotherly treatment given to them by the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan".

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Gehlot called a meeting of his Ministers at his official residence in Jaipur late Saturday and asked all party MLAs to give a letter of support to him. Senior ministers have been roped in this regard.

However, ministers from the Pilot camp did not attend this meeting. Gehlot, sources said, has spoken with Sonia Gandhi, Rajasthan party affairs incharge Avinash Pandey, and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal to apprise them of developments in his state.