Sachin Pilot gives a miss to key meeting with top leaders ahead of polls

Sachin Pilot, who had embarrassed his party with his protest against his own government, has reportedly skipped an important meeting which was part of preparation for the state election this year.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, party in charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee Govind Singh Dotasra are holding one-to-one meetings with MLAs, NDTV reported. However, Pilot has skipped the meeting as he is busy with a public outreach program today on the outskirts of Jaipur.

Sources close to the development have informed the website that Pilot's outreach program was fixed before the party scheduled the meeting. Former cabinet minister Raghu Sharma has said that not much should be read into his absence.

The party sources have claimed that Pilot will not be attending the one-on-one meeting today.

With state polls to be held in Rajasthan later this year, Pilot has become a headache for Gehlot. Last week, Sachin Pilot held a day-long fast, demanding action from his own government over cases of alleged corruption during the BJP term.

Although the party initially backed Ashok Gehlot and warned Pilot of actions, it later changed its stance and tried to broker peace between the warring leaders.

However, Pilot's recent move is seen as an attempt to pressure the party high command to resolve the leadership issue ahead of the year-end polls.

The feud between Congress leaders Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot came out in open in 2018 when the former, who was then the Deputy CM, rebelled against the party.

Later, the Congress sacked Pilot as the Rajasthan Deputy CM and the State party chief while two ministers belonging to the his camp were dropped from the ministry.

Last year, it was Gehlot's turn to embarrass the party as his supporters refused to attend the CLP meeting after the Congress central leadership wanted Gehlot to resign as Rajasthan CM and contest AICC election.