Ashok Gehlot has moved to close ranks around Sachin Pilot, saying he hopes his former deputy will never leave the Congress and has learnt from the turmoil that once brought Rajasthan’s party unit close to collapse.
The former Rajasthan Chief Minister’s remarks came after BJP Rajasthan in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal questioned Pilot’s loyalty, saying the Tonk MLA had “one leg” in the Congress and the other elsewhere. Gehlot rejected the charge, saying Pilot’s “both legs” were in the Congress and would remain there.
The exchange has acquired sharper political meaning after the split in the Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha group, with Raghav Chadha and six other MPs moving away from the party and aligning with the BJP. That development has intensified debate within opposition ranks over defections, loyalty and the ability of parties to hold senior leaders ahead of the next cycle of state and national contests.
Gehlot’s intervention was striking because his own relations with Pilot have long defined factional politics in Rajasthan Congress. Pilot, then deputy chief minister and state Congress president, led a rebellion in July 2020 with supporting legislators who moved to Manesar near Delhi. The crisis triggered a confrontation with the Gehlot government, led to Pilot’s removal from both posts and exposed deep generational and organisational fault lines inside the party.
Gehlot said Pilot had seen the consequences of that “mistake” and had become more cautious. He also sought to turn the BJP’s attack back on its authors, suggesting that those who had once tried to unsettle Congress legislators had failed to permanently damage the party’s core structure. His tone was less confrontational than during earlier phases of the rivalry, when the two leaders often traded sharp public criticism.
Pilot has remained a key Congress figure in Rajasthan despite the 2020 crisis. He won from Tonk in the 2023 Assembly election, even as the BJP returned to power in the state with 115 seats and Congress was reduced to 70. His position within the party has continued to attract scrutiny because he commands support among sections of younger workers, Gujjar voters and leaders who see him as a future state-level face.
The BJP’s criticism appears aimed at reopening Congress’s old wounds. By questioning Pilot’s loyalty, Agarwal sought to portray the opposition party as divided and vulnerable to internal drift. Congress leaders responded by calling the remarks objectionable and defending Pilot’s place in the organisation.
Gehlot’s defence also reflects a broader opposition anxiety after the AAP setback in Parliament. The departure of seven Rajya Sabha MPs has cut AAP’s strength in the Upper House and given the BJP a political talking point against its rivals. It has also renewed focus on the anti-defection framework, especially when a group claims merger protection rather than an ordinary split.
For Congress, Rajasthan remains a sensitive battleground. The party lost power in 2023 after a campaign shaped by welfare promises, anti-incumbency and persistent questions over leadership cohesion. Since then, the central leadership has tried to project unity among Gehlot, Pilot, state president Govind Singh Dotasra and other senior figures.
Gehlot and Pilot had shown signs of easing tensions over the past year, including public gestures that indicated a willingness to move beyond the bitter phase that followed the 2020 rebellion. Monday’s statement strengthens that line, signalling that the party does not want speculation over Pilot’s future to dominate its Rajasthan strategy.
The Congress also faces pressure to rebuild its organisation before future Assembly and parliamentary battles. Rajasthan’s political pattern has often favoured alternation between the BJP and Congress, but the BJP’s current hold over the state government gives it an advantage in narrative-setting, candidate mobilisation and local networks.
Gehlot’s remarks therefore serve two purposes: they defend Pilot from the BJP’s charge and reassure Congress workers that the party’s senior leaders are not preparing for another internal rupture. The message is also directed at undecided cadres who may read the AAP split as evidence that opposition parties are vulnerable to pressure and inducement.
