In the middle of a massive political crisis in the Rajasthan state between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, the key member who was instrumental in retaining the government may have been Pradyumn Singh.
A former three-term legislator and an old aide of the current Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Pradyumn Singh is the key member who wooed back four rebels Congress MLAs from the Sachin Pilot camp. One of them was Singh’s own son Rohit Bohra. Bohra arrived in Delhi on Friday along with Danish Abrar, Prashant Bairwa, and Chetan Dudi who were all considered loyalists to Sachin Pilot.
On Saturday, Gehlot managed to connect to Bohra over the phone and then Bohra made sure there is contact with the other three MLAs too. As per a close source, Gehlot managed to convince all the four rebel MLAs that they have no future with Pilot who was then rumored to be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. As soon as Gehlot got off the call, the four rebel MLAs left Delhi and landed in Jaipur at 4 am on Sunday where they had meetings with Gehlot. As per another source, one of the MLAs sought forgiveness of the Chief Minister too. The source said,
“With their return, Gehlot was able to break Pilot’s camp and convince party leaders in Delhi that more rebel legislators would return to the fold.”
Disciplinary Action Against Sachin
Once that happened, Gehlot managed to get every rebel legislator on-call himself and assured that they would be taken care of. Post that, once he was convinced that he has the required numbers, Gehlot called for the Congress Legislative Party on Monday. The CLP is usually a meeting where legislators can raise issues and then submit a report to the party high command. A report was submitted to the high command and as per a source, it was on the lines of,
“The central observers have given specific instances of how Pilot and his supporters were trying to undermine the chief minister’s authority and were hobnobbing with the opposition.”
The resolution passed in the CLP also sought strict action against any member of the party who has been involved in anti-party activities. Before the CLP meet on Tuesday, Pilot was reportedly told that if he does not want to attend the meet, he should address the media and confirm that he is a loyal soldier of the congress party. According to a source,
“But Pilot turned this offer as well and insisted on his demand for immediate removal of Gehlot as the chief minister. His refusal was like the final nail in the coffin. It was finally decided to remove him as the deputy chief minister and the state congress president.”
Source: Hindustan Times
