At the time when a leadership reshuffle was underway in Punjab last week, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot had a marathon meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The two leaders are believed to have discussed the much talked about reshuffle in the Ashok Gehlot government, along with the situation in the state.
The meeting came a day before Captain Amarinder Singh was asked to resign as the Punjab chief minister by the Congress high command. However, the reshuffle in Rajasthan may not be as big as Punjab and may see inclusion of some Pilot loyalists in the Cabinet.
Ajay Maken, AICC general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, has made multiple visits to the state and has taken views of all MLAs. Pilot has been repeatedly demanding a Cabinet reshuffle and inclusion of some MLAs loyal to him, besides political appointments to various boards and corporations in the state.
The Indian Express quoted sources saying that Pilot has been given an assurance again that the reshuffle would take place soon. With the party leadership intervening in Punjab and making a change of guard, the Pilot camp is expecting a similar reshuffle in Rajasthan now.
However, some senior AICC leaders pointed out that the situation in Rajasthan was different from what was in Punjab with Gehlot commanding the support of a majority of MLAs.
Meanwhile, former PCC general secretary Mahesh Sharma was quoted by News18 saying that the Congress formed a government in Rajasthan due to Pilot’s hard work and he should be given a chance to be the chief minister. Sharma is believed to be a loyalist of Pilot.
Pilot was the deputy chief minister and Rajasthan Congress president till July 2020 but lost both posts after he rebelled against chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
