Pilot camp says issue is of principles and not about posts

Leaders close to rebel Rajasthan Congress leader Rajesh Pilot said he has taken a “principled position” and it is not about posts. The issues of corruption and paper leaks are his top priority, they added.

“He (Pilot) is waiting for a response from the party leadership, the ball is in their court,” a source was quoted as saying.

When asked by the media about reports on Pilot likely to announce new party on June 11. Congress party’s in-charge for Rajasthan, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was qouted as saying by news agency ANI, “I am hearing this from you. I think there is nothing like that. He didn’t want that earlier, he doesn’t want it now.”

The preparations for the programme marking Rajesh Pilot’s death anniversary, which is held annually, are going on in full swing in Dausa and are being supervised by Minister of State for Agriculture Marketing Murari Lal Meena, who is known to be close to Pilot.

With all eyes on that programme, Meena told reporters, “I have no idea from where the speculation of the new party started. I do not see any substance in such speculations. I work following the ideology of the party.”

According to PTI, the crucial face-to-face meet of Gehlot and Pilot with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi on May 29 did not result in any resolution of “core issues” between the two Rajasthan bigwigs. The meeting was held to address the internal strife within the Rajasthan Congress.

Speaking to reporters after the four hour-long meeting in Delhi with the party high command, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal had said that Gehlot and Pilot have “unanimously agreed” to fight the upcoming Rajasthan assembly elections in a “joint fight against the BJP”.

“We have decided to fight elections unitedly. Definitely, we will win the elections in Rajasthan. Both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot have unanimously agreed with the proposal. It is very clear that Rajasthan is going to be a strong state for the Congress party. We are going to win. Therefore, both the leaders Gehlot ji and Sachin ji have decided to go together. The Congress party will fight elections unitedly,” Venugopal had said.

Notably, this was the first face-to-face interaction between Gehlot and Pilot in the presence of senior party leaders in quite some time.

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