"It's A Draw, Back To Pavilion": Rebel MLA On Team Pilot's Return

As the Rajasthan Congress struggled to reconcile with Sachin Pilot's return after a month-long rebellion, a former minister and rebel MLA who had compared the revolt to a test match declared a "draw" and said it was "back to pavilion" for his group.

Vishvendra Singh, who was sacked as Rajasthan Tourism Minister after he joined the rebel squad of Sachin Pilot, tried cricket humour to explain a truce that, according to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, many Congress MLAs have found hard to digest.

"I said this is a test match and I said it with humour. The match is a draw now," said Vishvendra Singh, who was also vice president of the Congress in Rajasthan.

"With the High Command's intervention the teams are friends again. We are all back to the pavilion," he added.

On July 14, the day he was sacked, Mr Singh had tweeted what appeared to be a challenge: "Today it was a 20-20 but from tomorrow a test match will start and now watch what will happen...I thank all of you."

Sachin Pilot patched up with the Congress leadership on Monday, almost a month after he launched a revolt against Mr Gehlot over summons related to allegations of Congress MLAs being offered bribes to facilitate a coup. He met with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Yesterday, Mr Pilot returned to Jaipur with 18 rebels including Mr Singh. There was no big welcome and Mr Gehlot was in Jaisalmer, along with 100-odd Congress MLAs, many of whom expressed resentment at the rebels' return without any action.

"We are not rebels. We said nothing against the party. We were unhappy with the functioning of the government. There were problems with the leadership, Mr Pilot had said. We have cleared the air after talking to the high command," said the sacked minister.