Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Lokesh Sharma, on Sunday met Congress leader Sachin Pilot, a day after the party released its first list of 33 candidates for the November 25 Assembly election.
Mr. Sharma said that Mr. Pilot was a senior leader of the party and discussions on Assembly elections were held during the meeting. He was recently appointed co-chairman of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee's central war room for the polls to the 200-member Assembly.
When asked by presspersons whether he discussed with Mr. Pilot, his aspiration to contest from Bikaner West, Mr. Sharma said that "as a Congress worker, I wish to contest the elections". The Bikaner West Assembly seat is currently held by State Education Minister B.D. Kalla.
"The Congress is "going to (fight) the election with unity" and it will win the polls, Mr. Sharma said after the meeting at Mr. Pilot's residence that lasted for nearly half an hour.
Mr. Gehlot and his former deputy Mr. Pilot have been at loggerheads over leadership in the State ever since the Congress came to power in Rajasthan in December 2018. The Chief Minister had faced a rebellion by Mr. Pilot and his MLA supporters in 2020.
In an October 20 public meeting of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Dausa, both Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Pilot talked about unity. Ms. Gandhi had also asserted that the party is united in Rajasthan, at the meet.
The Congress has fielded Mr. Gehlot from Sardarpura and Mr. Pilot from Tonk. Three leaders who rebelled against Mr. Gehlot with Mr. Pilot in 2020 made it to the list.
Case against Sharma
In 2020, during the time of the political crisis, Mr. Sharma was accused of circulating call recordings which, he claimed, were for exposing political conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government.
It was alleged that the recordings were of phone calls between Union Minister and senior BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and others. On the basis of the call recordings, then chief whip Mahesh Joshi had given a complaint to the special operation group and anti-corruption bureau of the Rajasthan Police seeking investigation against Mr. Shekhawat and others.
In March 2021, Mr. Shekhawat, who is MP from Jodhpur, also lodged an FIR against Mr.Sharma in Delhi on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telegraphic signals (telephonic conversation) following which Mr. Sharma approached Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the FIR.
The court had given him relief by staying coercive action against him, which is continuing. Mr. Sharma has also appeared before the crime branch of the Delhi Police for questioning five times.
