The Congress has called another meeting of its legislators in Rajasthan at 10 am on Tuesday and invited Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot whose open rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has left the ruling party on the verge of a split.
"The CLP meeting will be held on Tuesday. We request Sachin Pilot and all other MLAs to come. We will also give them in writing to come and discuss the issues," AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Rahul Gandhi were ready to listen to everyone and find a solution to the crisis.
“I am hopeful of finding a solution to the BJP's conspiracy and the attack on the democratic set-up,” he told reporters.
Earlier, a resolution adopted at the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Monday urged strong disciplinary action against any party office-bearer or CLP member who does anything to weaken the government or the party. But the resolution stopped short of naming Pilot, who heads the state unit of the party.
After the meeting, the MLAs were holed up in a resort near Jaipur.
“Doors are open for Sachin Pilot and other MLAs. They will be heard and solutions will be found. This is the discipline of the party,” Surjewala had said in the morning.
Hectic efforts are on to broker peace in the state Congress, with leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, learnt to have reached out to Pilot, in a bid to work out a compromise formula.
Pilot has been upset ever since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections.
There was no official word on the number of MLAs who attended the CLP meeting at Gehlot's home, but party leaders claimed 106 legislators were there.
If correct, this staves off the immediate challenge posed by Pilot, who claimed on Sunday night that he has the support of over 30 of 107 Congress MLAs in the 200-member assembly.
In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bharatiya Tribal Party, and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Unconfirmed reports claimed that the two BTP MLAs have decided to withdraw their support to the government.
The current crisis began on 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.
The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot's supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him.
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With inputs from PTI
