‘Forgive and Forget’: Sachin Pilot buries hatchet with CM Gehlot, bats for ‘younger’ leadership ahead of Rajasthan polls

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Rajasthan Congress is one such wayward unit for the Congress High Command, where in two Congress leaders with significant support has turned in warring camps, albeit under the same party.  No split, no rebel, just in-flighting! In the latest reported development of the same, for Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and ex-Rajasthan Congress President Sachin Pilot in an interview with PTI has said he ‘buried the hatchet’ with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.  Notably, Rajasthan is set to go into polls later this year or early next year, nonetheless adding to the array of litmus tests Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress goes through before the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.  The statements comes days after the crucial Rajasthan polls strategy meeting of the Congress.  Congress leader Sachin Pilot said to PTI he has buried the hatchet with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on the advice of party president Mallikarjun Kharge, saying collective leadership was the "only way" forward going into the assembly polls. Pilot said Kharge advised him to "forgive and forget" and move forward.

"It was as much an advice as a directive." "Ashok Gehlot ji is older than me, he has more experience. He has heavy responsibilities on his shoulders.

When I was the Rajasthan Congress president, I tried to take everyone along. I think that today he is the Chief Minister (Gehlot), so he is trying to take everyone along.

Asked about Gehlot calling him names in the past and his criticism of the Gehlot government over inaction on issues such as corruption in the previous Vasundhara Raje government, Pilot said that in a meeting with him, Congress chief Kharge said that time that has gone by will not come back and one has to look at the future. "He