Sachin Pilot Thanks Congress Chief After Inclusion In Working Committee

Congress's Sachin Pilot, picked for the party's top decision-making body today, expressed gratitude to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who has nominated the members. He is one of the 39 people named for the Working Committee by Mr Kharge today.

Tagging Mr Kharge, and Rahul Gandhi, Mr Pilot posted on X, formerly Twitter: "I express my gratitude to respected Congress President Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, CPP Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and former President Mr. Rahul Gandhi for making me a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). We all will strengthen the customs and ideology of the Congress and take it more strongly to the people."

Mr Pilot, one of the contenders for the top job in Rajasthan, has been kept on the wait mode since 2018, despite grassroot-level work that led to a victory for the party.  Two years later, it led to a rebellion by the senior leader against the Ashok Gehlot government, after which he was removed as Deputy Chief Minister and the Rajasthan Congress chief.

In an election year, he is yet to receive any public reassurance that the job will be his this time, in case the party comes to power again, breaking the state's revolving-door tradition.

Sources said his inclusion in the Working Committee could be followed by charge of a major state ahead of next year's general elections.  There is speculation that the move can help consolidate the fragile peace between Mr Gehlot and Mr Pilot in Rajasthan, where tiffs between the two have frequently made it to headlines.

Following a peace formula between its warring generals in Karnataka -- Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar that paid off in the state polls -- the Congress had done an action replay in Rajasthan.

Last month, Sachin Pilot made it clear that he has buried the hatchet with the Chief Minister following the advice of Mr Kharge, saying collective leadership was the "only way" forward.

On his part, Mr Gehlot reciprocated by backing Mr Pilot in the row over BJP claims that his father Rajesh Pilot dropped bombs on the country's own citizens in Mizoram.

Mr Gehlot, who is seen to have passed up the chance for the party's top post during the internal elections last year to protect his turf in Rajasthan, has also said he thinks of leaving the Chief Minister's post, but "this post is not leaving me".

"It comes to my mind that I should quit the post Why I should quit is a mystery but this post is not leaving me," he said at an event in Jaipur. "Whatever decision the high command takes is acceptable to me. It takes courage to say that I want to leave but this position is not allowing me to leave," he has added.