Signalling a hardening of stance towards Sachin Pilot, the Congress on Sunday said that Rajasthan’s former deputy chief minister and his supporting MLAs need to give up the hospitality offered to them by the BJP and any discussion with them can take place only at a party forum and not through the media.
Emphasising upon the efforts made by the Congress to reach out to Pilot, AICC Communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said that the party leadership had talked to him at least half a dozen times, two senior members of the Congress Working Committee had spoken to him and AICC General Secretary in charge of Organisation K.C. Venugopal had also reached out to him two to three times.
“He (Pilot) has to now decide whether he wants to remain trapped in the BJP’s conspiracy to topple an elected government or if he wants to discuss any issues that he has within the party,” Surjewala said.
He said that any discussion with Pilot and the other rebel MLAs cannot take place through the media, in an apparent reference to the comments attributed in reports to the Pilot camp. “I maintain that it is a family matter which has to be sorted within the family. It cannot be dealt with through comments made to the media,” he said.
The Congress leader said that the BJP’s imprint on the entire episode was writ large—from the protection offered to the rebel MLAs by the BJP government in Haryana to lawyers who are said to be close to the BJP dispensation appearing for the legislators in court.
Surjewala asserted that the Gehlot government enjoyed the support of 109 MLAs. “That is a figure that we stand by,” he said. On the speculation that Gehlot could go in for a floor test in the coming week, he said that it is the sole discretion of the cabinet of Rajasthan and the chief minister.
“The BJP was earlier proclaiming that the Gehlot government does not have majority. What has changed in the last 48 hours for the party to now say that the government has absolute majority and there is no need for a floor test,” Surjewala said.