Gehlot and Pilot meet Rahul Gandhi as discontent grows among Rajasthan MLAs

Congress president Rahul Gandhi received a series of visitors on Tuesday, including his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rajasthan’s top leaders, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, amid signs of discontent in the state unit and Gandhi’s insistence on quitting as party chief.

The meetings

Pilot met Gandhi at his residence in Delhi, followed by Gehlot. Party insiders said Priyanka Gandhi, a Congress general secretary, was present during the talks. General secretary K C Venugopal and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also called on Gandhi at his Tughlaq Lane home. It was not immediately clear what was discussed. On Monday, Gandhi had cancelled all his appointments and Gehlot could not meet him.

Since Saturday, senior leaders had been trying to persuade Gandhi to withdraw his resignation, but he appeared firm on stepping down.

Turmoil after the defeat

The Congress won only 52 Lok Sabha seats and failed to open its account in 18 states and Union Territories. Gandhi lost the family stronghold of Amethi but won from Wayanad in Kerala. The NDA won all 25 seats in Rajasthan, and in Karnataka, where the Congress had formed a government with the JD(S) in May the previous year, it won just one of 28 seats. There were reports that the BJP might try to take power in both states.

At the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday, according to leaders who attended, Gandhi spoke bluntly about the role of several leaders while offering to resign himself. He criticised Gehlot for camping in Jodhpur to campaign for his son Vaibhav and neglecting the rest of the state. Since then, several Rajasthan ministers and MLAs have demanded that accountability be fixed for the defeat.

What happened next

Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president in July 2019, and Sonia Gandhi became interim president in August 2019. In Karnataka, the H. D. Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-Congress government fell in July 2019, and B. S. Yeddyurappa of the BJP returned as Chief Minister.

See also: state assembly members

Originally published on 28 May 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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