But, one thing that is clear as of now is that although Pilot has returned back to the party, he is no more stronger as he was before. True that the Congress high command, particularly Priyanka Gandhi, played a crucial role in assuaging him. But, the party hasn’t conceded all of his demands as of now — except that it has accepted to form a three level committee to address the issues raised by him and by his disgruntled MLAs. Another key demand of Pilot that the party agreed is to remove Avinash Pande as party’s general secretary of the state — the position is now given to Delhi’s Ajay Maken, a senior leader considered close to Rahul Gandhi.

However, the party hasn’t conceded other key demands of Pilot. The party didn’t give him any assurances about projecting him as the face of the party during the next assembly elections to be held in 2023. The point is that the Congress leadership was very clear that while accommodating Pilot the interests of Ashok Gehlot were not hurt. After all, amid this political crisis, it was Gehlot who proved that he is the strongest party's leader in the state — as he managed to hold most of the party’s MLAs with him while only 18 MLAs went with Pilot. Congress, which itself has already been in a deep crisis nationally, was in no mood to sideline a powerful, shrewd and matured leader like Ashok Gehlot for a young leader like Sachin Pilot — who has miles to go to match the maturity of Gehlot.

Besides, it was true that Pilot himself was trying to crossover to rival BJP and the Congress party was well aware of it. He was trying to negotiate with the BJP leaders. However, Pilot’s plans were thwarted as there too he had to face another powerful, shrewd and matured leader just like his detractor Gehlot. She was none other than Vasundhara Raje, the two time chief minister and also BJP’s popular face in the state. She herself wasn’t keen to take Pilot into BJP’s fold.

There are reasons for Vasundhara’s opposition to Pilot. First of all, she saw it as a plan of BJP high command to sideline her through Pilot just like the party is doing in Madhya Pradesh to weaken chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan through her cousin Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the saffron party from the Congress party this year. It is an open secret that she doesn’t share a good relation with the party’s high command — particularly with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the second most powerful leader in the party after prime minister Narendra Modi. The bitter relationship between them was seen in 2018 when Vasundhara opposed Shah’s choice of Gajendra Shekhawat as party’s state president. However, after a deadlock, a deal was done and Satish Punia was appointed as party’s state president.

Secondly, in Pilot's case, Vasundhara wasn’t kept in the loop and her detractors like Shekhawat, who is presently Union Jal Shakti minister, was leading the secret operation to bring Pilot into BJP. Shekhawat got support from Satish Punia too — who even said that everything is possible and Pilot may be the next chief minister. This didn’t go well with Vasundhara — who herself eyes nothing less than the chief minister's post. So, it was obvious that she would oppose Pilot’s entry into the saffron party.

Lastly, Vasundhara Raje didn’t want to topple the Gehlot led Congress government at the time of Corona crisis — and if it happens her party may not be able to win the next assembly elections in 2023. After all, for the last two decades it has been a tradition to vote out the ruling party in the state. And Vasundhara herself is eyeing the next elections — so she was in no mood to accommodate Pilot into BJP and also didn't want to give any chance to her rival Ashok Gehlot to play the victim card. In fact, this political drama, amid the Corona crisis, has no doubt dented the Congress government’s image before the public — an issue that Vasundhara wants to exploit to throw out the Gehlot government in the next elections. Not only this, during this crisis, she once again proved her mettle that nothing could happen at Rajasthan BJP without her permission. According to reports, out of 72 party MLAs, around 45 are Vasundhara loyalists.

The result of this political crisis is that Sachin Pilot had to clip his wings by swallowing back the insult made against him by none other than Ashok Gehlot himself — as he was having no option after being countered by Gehlot on one side and Vasundhara Raje on the other side. His face was saved at last by the Congress leadership, particularly by Priyanka Gandhi. And in Rajasthan Congress, it was Gehlot who had the last laugh while in BJP’s camp, it was Vasundhara — who now has become active keeping an eye on the next assembly polls. Also, she has been able to get an assurance from BJP’s central leadership that next time she won't be sidelined. (IPA Service)