The Congress on Sunday demanded answers from the government on whether it has accepted third-party mediation on Kashmir after the United States made announcements on behalf of India and Pakistan, and slammed attempts to 'internationalise' the issue and 'hyphenate' the two countries.
Pilot, who spent around an hour at Gandhi's residence where Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal was also present, said he conveyed his sentiments and gave his feedback to the party president.
Supporters of the two leaders are competing in Hadoti to highlight their dominance, which is visible from the hoardings in the region. This has also led to blame games between leaders of the two factions.
Lokesh Sharma, the former OSD of Rajasthan's ex-chief minister Ashok Gehlot, has turned approver in a phone tapping case that happened during the political crisis in the state in 2020. Sharma was accused of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telephonic conversations. He has alleged that Gehlot was involved in tapping of phones and gave evidence to support his claim. Sharma claims that he was directed by Gehlot to circulate recordings of phone calls to the media.
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
'These frequent visits show the BJP fears that the Congress will retain power.'
"I have seen Pilot's statement in the media that he will not join the BJP. If you do not want to go to the BJP, stop accepting the hospitality of the BJP immediately," Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said.
He showed a video of Solanki and Poonia purportedly entering a hotel and exiting a hotel room one after the other.
Pilot also said that during his meeting with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday, he had made no personal demands for any post and asserted that he has left it to the party to decide on his "future role".
Ramesh also said the Congress leadership is considering a proper solution to the Rajasthan issue.
Some of the MLAs seen in the video are Indraraj Gurjar, Mukesh Bhakar, Harish Meena.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot arrived in the national capital on Tuesday amid a buzz of a likely meeting with the party high command that is grappling with the high political drama in the state.
Despite a warning issued to him by the Congress, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot sat on a daylong fast at the Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur on Tuesday, demanding action in cases of alleged corruption related to the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state led by Vasundhara Raje.
The Congress had taken action against them on July 17 after three audio tapes allegedly pertaining to the conspiracy to topple the government surfaced.
Pilot's demand to order a probe and take action in the alleged mining scam during the previous BJP government and other corruption allegations was supported by state cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas.
Gehlot alleged that that the BJP wanted to repeat what it had done in Madhya Pradesh.
Before ending his life on Monday, Meena recorded a video alleging Joshi and a few other people had caused problems to him because of which he was forced to kill himself.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's speech in Dholpur reflects that his leader is Vasundhara Raje and not Sonia Gandhi, Sachin Pilot said in a no holds barred attack against his party colleague on Tuesday.
"If anybody with a mass base joins the BJP or any political party, everybody welcomes him. Expressing trust in our ideology, if anybody joins us we will welcome him with open arms. This is a normal procedure," Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told reporters in New Delhi.
'I appeal to Sachin Pilot and all his fellow MLAs to join today's Legislature Party meeting'
The current crisis began Friday night when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the government.
Congress in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday started one-to-one meetings with state ministers and MLAs amid attempts by the party's central leadership to broker peace between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and dissident leader Sachin Pilot ahead of assembly polls due later this year.
In his remarks at the rallies, Pilot has cornered the Gehlot government over issues such as the repeated paper leaks and political appointments of retired bureaucrats while sidelining party workers.
Commenting on the issue, 51-year-old Bishoni, who is the younger son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, also batted for promoting young faces with a "mass base" to strengthen the party.
He said Gehlot could tell how he got the call recordings and whether the call interceptions were done legally or not.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who faced trolling on social media in the wake of India and Pakistan reaching an understanding on May 10 to halt all military actions, has received support from veteran diplomat Nirupama Menon Rao, a body of Indian diplomats and a host of politicians from several parties.
Pilot and his supporters claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday stressed that the party would fight the Rajasthan assembly polls "unitedly" and said that a decision on who would lead the next government would be taken by the high command after consultations with the newly-elected MLAs.
Other Congress leaders who are learnt to have spoken with Pilot are Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram and K C Venugopal.
"Next challenge for us is to win elections, neither individuals nor statements matter, those are bygones," he said.
A message on Pilot's official WhatsApp group said Tuesday night that he has served Malinga a legal notice for 'the false and malicious statement' he made to the press.
The minister felt that not everybody has to become a politician, but one needs to be involved in the system and hold the leadership accountable and make sure that there is more transparency in the system.
A day after a group of Congress MLAs met Sachin Pilot, another party legislator on Friday expressed support for the dissident leader as trouble brewed again in Rajasthan's ruling party.
The Congress leadership is caught in a peculiar situation and wants to find a middle path to the issue, party sources said.
'There may be some planted stories here or there, people trying to create manufactured controversies but the party is fully united. We will make sure the yatra is even more successful than it has been in other states'
Pilot said rules and discipline of the party apply to all, adding that he hoped Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would take a decision in the matter soon.
Pilot has said he worked very hard to bring the Congress back in power in Rajasthan and clarified that he is not joining the BJP.
While Pilot, who declared a week ago that he was placing no conditions for returning to the government, reportedly doesn't want a berth for himself, he has sought places for his followers.
Top Congress sources said the meeting took place a little after noon at Rahul Gandhi's residence and a 'positive outcome' was expected.
The senior leader, however, said that if the action of any MLA leads to harm to Congress government then it is simply not acceptable. "I consider Sachin Pilot as one of the most talented, competent and impressive Congressmen we have. He is a friend also. We all value him in the party. He should come and air his grievances, the floor is open. All people are prepared to listen to him," Singhvi said.
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