Gehlot Says Ready to 'Move On' But Gives Cold Shoulder to Pilot 72 Hours Since Cong Announced Truce

Around 72 hours since Sachin Pilot's truce with the Congress party after a long-drawn internal battle, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is yet to meet with the sacked deputy CM. In order to manage the situation, the Congress high command on Thursday sent senior leader KC Venugopal, who has been communicating with the two leaders.

However, in a series of tweets, Gehlot said that he was ready to "forget and forgive" and added that it was time to move on.

"The Congress's fight is to save democracy under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. In the past one month, whatever internal discord happened within the Congress party, we have to, for the state, for the country and for the people for Rajasthan, move on with the spirit of forget-and-forgive," Gehlot wrote on the micro-blogging site.

Gehlot also alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched to topple elected governments in the country and termed "a very dangerous game."

"#SaveDemocracy should be our priority with the spirit of forgive and forget. The conspiracy that is going on to topple elected governments one by one in the country, the way governments were toppled in the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh & other states, how ED, CBI, Income Tax, judiciary have been misused, it is a very dangerous game that is going on to undermine democracy," Gehlot added.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Gehlot said the fight to save democracy will continue and added that it was "natural" for the MLAs to be upset. "The manner in which this episode occurred and the way in which they stayed for a month, it was natural," he said.

The political crisis in Rajasthan Congress ended on Monday after a meeting of Pilot with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. The rebel MLAs later met top Congress leaders and were assured that their grievances would be redressed in a time-bound manner. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also announced the formation of a three-member committee to hear the grievances of rebel leaders.

Nineteen Congress rebels, including Pilot, had revolted against Gehlot, posing a threat to the Congress government in Rajasthan. Congress removed Pilot as the deputy CM and as the state chief of the party on July 14 but also sent many feelers to Pilot. Tensions simmered between the two leaders when Gehlot had called his former deputy "nikamma" (useless) and had accused him of playing a part in toppling the government.