Even if D K Shivakumar wanted to oust Siddaramaiah, whose support would he take?
The shrewd politician that he is, Siddaramaiah figured his rival had no option but to lump it, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Gehlot's remark hinted at a possible thaw between the two senior Congress leaders after years of political tussle.
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.
Gehlot launched a scathing attack on Pilot dubbing him a 'gaddar' (traitor) and said he can never be made the chief minister of the state.
Pilot was spied on after revolt, says Gehlot's OSD
Six critical patients were killed in a fire at the trauma centre of the state-run Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur late Sunday night, officials stated.
He expressed confidence he and Pilot would work together after they agreed on a truce before the party high command.
Infighting between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot has been out in the open throughout the Congress term.
He said Gehlot could tell how he got the call recordings and whether the call interceptions were done legally or not.
A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said both Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot were "assets to the party", the CM on Tuesday suggested that the matter rests there.
'They wanted to prove that the BJP was behind all this, which was not the case. Then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot even said that no one was listening to them even when they wanted to tell their side of the story, so they all got together and reached the party's high command'
Supporters of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot on Thursday got into a scuffle with each other ahead of a feedback meeting with the party workers in Ajmer, the police said.
The meetings come days after an open rebellion by Gehlot loyalists over a possible leadership change in the state, clouding Gehlot's chances of running for the presidency.
While the going for Dushyant Singh in Jhalawar is not tough, winning Jalore is a tough battle for Vaibhav Gehlot.
Reacting to Modi's comments, Sachin Pilot had said that there is no need for anyone other than his party and the people to worry about him.
Some of them have also endorsed Sachin Pilot as chief minister. However, they added that whatever decision the party high command takes in this regard, they will accept it.
A Pilot camp MLA said that the former deputy chief minister is raising the issue of corruption in the public interest.
The Rajasthan Cricket Association is headed by Vaibhav Gehlot, the CM's son, so papa's presence at the match was perhaps not that surprising.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot called Sachin Pilot a gaddar (traitor) on Thursday and said he cannot replace him as he had revolted against the Congress in 2020 and tried to topple his own government.
'Gehlot made it a Modi versus Gehlot contest. It was for the first time in a northern Indian state where the prime minister had to confront a chief minister.'
"The Congress is "going to (fight) the election with unity" and it will win the polls," Sharma said after the meeting at Pilot's Civil Lines residence that lasted for nearly half an hour.
"I sometimes think of leaving it, but the chief minister's post doesn't leave me," Ashok Gehlot famously said earlier this year, in part as a signal to the Congress top brass not to pick someone else for the job if the party wins the assembly polls.
Ashok Gehlot, widely seen as the Congress's ruling family's nominee for the Congress president's post, bunged a spanner in the works when his MLA supporters submitted their resignations on Sunday night to assembly Speaker C P Joshi.
The Congress is yet to declare candidates on a majority seats as its Central Election Committee will meet on Sunday to finalise names for more seats.
What provoked Ashok Gehlot's belligerence was Sachin Pilot's participation in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh. Gehlot was also aware that Rajasthan assembly Speaker C P Joshi had met Rahul in Maharashtra.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot submitted his resignation to Governor Kalraj Mishra Sunday evening after his Congress party was defeated in the assembly polls.
The Congress has projected unity to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly polls in Rajasthan but "core issues" between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot remain unresolved, according to sources close to Pilot.
Look carefully at Gehlot and Pilot's faces at Tuesday's press conference at the Pradesh Congress committee office on Hospital Road in Jaipur, and you can guess how long the truce will last.
Not known to share the best of equations with his former deputy, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday came out in support of Sachin Pilot amid allegations by the Bharatiya Janata Party that his father, former Union minister Rajesh Pilot, was involved in the bombings over Mizoram in 1966.
Terming Gehlot's "praises" for her as a big conspiracy, Raje in a statement on Sunday night said he "has made such outrageous and untrue allegations because of the rebellion happening in his own party and diminishing mass base".
Gehlot, whose government had faced a rebellion led by his former deputy Sachin Pilot in 2020, said he has adopted the policy of "forgive and forget" and has moved on. He asserted that he has not opposed grant of any party tickets to Pilot's supporters.
Kharge was successful in bringing Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar together in Karnataka and the party now wants to try the same formula in Rajasthan, the senior leader said.
In Karnataka, the BJP lost the elections because of multiple poles of power, a problem the central leadership could not sort out in time. Could the same happen to the Congress in Rajasthan? asks Aditi Phadnis.
Legislator Ved Prakash Solanki, who is considered close to former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, also criticised Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for his recent remarks praising Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Vasundhara Raje, for helping him survive the 2020 revolt by some Congress MLAs.
The fact that Gehlot has stayed relevant these five years with his populist schemes is one reason why he may beat incumbency in a state that votes for change every election, observes Ramesh Menon.
'Ashok Gehlot is a senior and experienced political leader. Whatever differences he has expressed with his younger colleague Sachin Pilot will be resolved in a manner that strengthens the Congress party,' All India Congress Committee general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.
There are reports that Sachin Pilot, who is engaged in a tussle for power in Rajasthan ever since the Congress won the state in 2018, may announce his own party.
Top Congress leadership led by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held marathon discussions with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot joined them later in the evening.
There was speculation that he might meet the party's All India Congress Committee in-charge of Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and other senior leaders, but sources close to Pilot said no meetings were fixed.
The media is under the pressure of the central government but they should see the interest of the public, Gehlot told reporters.
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