Return To Rajasthan Ruled Out For Sachin Pilot: Congress Sources

Return To Rajasthan Ruled Out For Sachin Pilot: Congress Sources

Sachin Pilot said this morning to NDTV that he will not join the BJP. (File)
New Delhi/ Jaipur:Sachin Pilot will need about a month of "me time" before the Congress can decide how to accommodate him, said top leaders in the party who have been in touch with the 42-year-old through the big bang crisis of his revolt.
It will be hard for him to return to Rajasthan, said a top Congress leader of Mr Pilot, though he also ceded that the young politician has not sent any feelers seeking a rapprochement.
However, Mr Pilot said this morning to NDTV that he will not join the BJP - an utterance that softened his party's stand on him. "He could be given an important national role. It may not be possible straight away, a cooling off period of a month may be needed," said the Congress leader who is playing a key role in charting Mr Pilot's course - or whatever remains of it - with the party.
The Congress leader, known for his proximity to party chief Sonia Gandhi, said it's important that Mr Pilot plan a "return" without conditions.
"I am still a Congressman," Mr Pilot told NDTV this morning even as the party began action against him to disqualify him as an MLA - it has given him till Friday to justify his "anti-party activities." Yesterday, Mr Pilot was dismissed as Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan as also from the post of president of the Congress state branch.
That - and the fact that his rival, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot - seems to have the support of enough MLAs to remain in power - could have prompted the tenor of his interview this morning, one that indicated he could be persuaded to remain with the Congress. The party has made it clear that while it is keen to retain him, it cannot countenance his demand that to be named Chief Minister instead of Mr Gehlot.
"The threat level to the Gehlot government has come down," the Congress leader interviewed for this report said. In Jaipur, Mr Gehlot's squad, glamping at a fancy hotel, has strengthened its number to 106 - five more than it needs to remain in office - according to sources close to the Chief Minister. A major confidence booster came from senior BJP leaders in the state including Gulab Chand Kataria who said the situation does not seem to merit putting Mr Gehlot through a trust vote - yet.
Mr Pilot and the Congress have, in the last 24 hours, taken refuge in ascribing great value to the relationship he shares with the Gandhis, offering highly redeemable points as a possible out of the current eruption.