Jaipur, Aug 11 (UNI) Rajasthan leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday evening returned to Jaipur, nearly a month after rebelling against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and remaining confined in Haryana, as Congress high command acknowledged his grievances and assured to resolve them.
Mr Pilot was warmly welcomed by his supporters, amid loud cheers at his residence in the Pink City.
"Sachin Pilot, we love you," a cheerful supporter screamed.
However, the much-awaited return of Mr Pilot remained a low-key affair, as the crowd was numbered. Nor any programme or reception was held.
The home coming of the former chief minister became a reality, only after the meeting of Mr Pilot with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in New Delhi on Monday evening.
Mr Pilot, after the meeting, had told the press that he met to raise his grievances, which were heard and noted by the Congress high command.
Later, the grand-old party declared that a truce has been reached and Mr Pilot's grievances will be taken care off.
On Tuesday morning, Congress formed a three-member committee with Ms Vadra as one of its members to work on the issues raised by Mr Pilot.
Subsequently, Mr Pilot told the mediapersons in the national capital that he believes in his party and wants to start afresh.
However, it is not clear whether Mr Pilot will again become the Deputy Chief Minister and the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee President, the two posts taken away from him last month by the Congress.
On rebelling against the Congress, Mr Pilot made clear that during his stay in Manesar hotel, neither he spoke anything against any Congress leader, nor his party.
"I just had few issues and raising them is my right. It is neither illegal, immoral, anti-national or anti-party," Mr Pilot said and maintained that he believes in Congress and never rebelled or tried to break his party.
He refuted the allegations that he was coming back to the Congress, as he failed to attract enough MLAs to his camp to topple Gehlot-led government.
'We were not here (Manesar) for numbers, but issues. Neither we wanted to leave Congress, nor join some other party,' Mr Pilot stated.
Surprisingly, Mr Gehlot was not in Jaipur in the evening, when Mr Pilot arrived. The Chief Minister went to Jaisalmer to meet the MLAs in his support, who are sequestered at Suryagarh Hotel in the border district, since more than a week.
Speaking to the media earlier in the day in the state capital, Mr Gehlot claimed that BJP's attempt to topple the government has failed, as the Congress remains united.
On rebels, the Chief Minister said he will warmly hug them and do whatever his party wants. However, Mr Gehlot remained puzzled on the issues raised by rebels and the solutions they were seeking.
Mr Gehlot also chided away over a question on how will he be able to work with Mr Pilot again, whom he recently called 'Nikamma' (worthless).
Meanwhile, three independent MLAs- Om Prakash Hudla, Suresh Tank and Khushveer Singh- met Mr Gehlot at his residence in Jaipur in the morning. The reason and the outcome of the meeting is still a suspense.
Also, the Opposition BJP cancelled the state-level meeting, which was called for Tuesday to discuss the emerging political situation.
As per sources, the truce between the camps of Pilot and Gehlot was one of the main reason for the cancellation of the meeting.
If the 19 rebels including Mr Pilot sit together with Mr Gehlot at the treasury benches in the State Assembly, the Congress has enough numbers to continue ruling the House.
The Gehlot government has called an Assembly session from August 14 onwards and is likely to go for a Floor test.
In the present Assembly, Congress has 107 MLAs, while BJP has 72. Thirteen independents, two MLAs each from the CPI(M) and the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have supported the Congress.
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