Rajasthan

hours after noon at the 12, Tughlaq Road residence of Gandhi, a leader from the Pilot camp familiar with the details told HT, requesting anonymity. He also confirmed the presence of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

“The Gandhis did save the day for the Gehlot government,” the person quoted above said, confirming a peaceful resolution. “They [the Congress leadership] assured Pilot that the issues he had would be looked into,” he said. “The Congress leadership appreciated that Pilot did not respond to utterances by the chief minister and other leaders owing allegiance to him. All issues that his supporters raised will also be looked into,” said the leader. “Pilot also stressed that the grievances of his people should be addressed, they should get respect and their work should get done and he categorically stated that he does not want any post.”

Later in the day, Pilot said “we raised issues of principles before the Congress leadership, and welcome their assurance of a time-bound redressal of our grievances”. Asserting that he is not after any post and that the party can take back any position given to him, Pilot told the media that he thought certain issues had to be raised for the benefit of the party.

“While a lot of unparliamentarily words were used, I have chosen to maintain the dignity of the discourse,” Pilot told HT. He also said he was set to head back for Jaipur on Tuesday.

Pilot has given up his claim to chief ministership, a second Congress leader HT spoke to said, though there was no word on this from the former deputy chief minister’s team.

It was the first time that Gandhi met Pilot since the now-dismissed deputy chief minister left Jaipur on July 12. Since then, he has camped at various places in the national capital region — from Faridabad to Manesar — with the Congress legislators backing him. The state Congress unit and Pilot and his team have also been locked in a legal battle over the speaker’s powers in initiating disqualification proceedings against them. It was not immediately clear whether Pilot will be given a responsibility at the central level as part of the peace formula. Pilot and the legislators supporting him are expected to attend the crucial assembly session beginning August 14. Confident of its numbers, the Gehlot government was expected to take a floor test in the House. But, in view of the latest developments, it is not sure if that will be required.

On Monday, seven-time legislator Bhanwarlal Sharma, a key member of the Pilot camp who was suspended by the Congress, met Gehlot to assure him of his support. “It [the session] is on the 14th; so there is time left. We will be making an announcement soon,” said another leader from the Pilot camp. The second Congress leader said it was Pilot who sought a meeting with the central leadership. This leader said Pilot has been speaking to senior leaders Ahmad Patel and Venugopal. Asked if Rajasthan will be out of bounds for Pilot, another party functionary said: “We are not aware of any promise given to him by Rahul Gandhi. What transpired between them at the personal level is not known to us.” A section in the Congress believes Pilot had a rethink because of a difference of opinion within his group; some of them were worried that Pilot did not have the numbers to destabilise Gehlot’s government.

Rajasthan-based political analyst Narayan Bareth said the developments are lesson for the Congress that it should promote only those who have risen through the ranks. “Pilot should also realise that the organisation and its ideology are more important than any post,” he said.

The crisis in Rajasthan surfaced after Pilot received a notice from the special operations group of Rajasthan Police on July 10, triggering a revolt that has been in the offing for months. It asked him to record his statement regarding an alleged attempt to topple the Congress government.

Though the Congress said a similar notice was sent to Gehlot, leaders close to Pilot called it a “joke”; for it is the chief minister who is in charge of the home department that oversees the police force. Pilot’s camp said the notice was yet another move to “humiliate” the deputy chief minister and “undermine” his authority. The Congress removed Pilot as the deputy chief minister and state Congress president on July 14 and two of his supporters, including Sharma, were suspended from the party. Gehlot alleged that the Centre’s ruling BJP was trying to topple his government and his camp also said the BJP was helping Pilot. While the BJP repeatedly blamed the Congress’s internal rift for the Rajasthan crisis, Pilot said publicly that he would not join the BJP.

As the spotlight turned to the numbers amidst possibilities of a floor test, the Gehlot camp appeared to have the support of 101 legislators (though this did not include speaker CP Joshi) in the 200-member assembly. Pilot had the backing of 18 other Congress MLAS and three independents. Bhanwarlal Meghwal, one Congress MLA said to be close to Pilot, is indisposed. The BJP and its ally Rashtriya Loktrantrik Party have 75 seats.

On the day the Rajasthan crisis appeared to have been resolved, state BJP president Satish Poonia sharpened his attack on Gehlot, asking him to quit on moral grounds. “I had said on day one that it is the infighting of the Congress and they kept running from one place to another. There should be an audit of it in ‘janta ki adalat’,” Poonia told reporters at the party office in Jaipur, referring to allegations that his party was involved in the mutiny. “In this entire episode, the one who is actually a villain tried to become a hero. Ashok Gehlot should quit as the chief minister on moral grounds as it would lead to the solution of a lot of problems.”

The government has not released data on breakup of cases based on age since April. But since then, they have released data on deaths split by age groups at least thrice — on May 1, June 2, and July 10 , during the health ministry’s press briefings on Covid-19 . Most deaths — 50% — are in the age group of 60 years and above, followed by 37% deaths among people between 45 years and 60 years in age. About 11% of people who succumbed to the disease were between 26 and 44 years of age and 1% each belonged to the 18 - 25 years and below 17 years cohorts. This set of data was released on August 4.

“It is a new virus and there is lots that is not known about the disease; however, the evidence before us currently suggests that having co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension and also obesity is a key factor in determining whether a positive case will develop serious illness or not. It also contributes to overall deaths due to Covid-19, with a large number of those dying due to Covid-19 having found to be suffering from at least one of these health conditions. Comorbidities interfere in the recovery process,” said Dr Srikant Sharma, consultant, medicine department, Moolchand hospital.