The logjam in the Congress in Rajasthan has broken. For the first time since he raised the banner of rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka. A truce seems to have been brokered, days ahead of the government’s floor test on August 14.

Although there was no official account of what actually happened at the meeting, sources in the Congress made it clear that Gehlot would not be moved as chief minister, the Pilot group’s ‘core’ demand. However, a committee could be constituted to address Sachin Pilot’s specific complaints against Gehlot.

A terse statement by AICC Secretary KC Venugopal said Sachin Pilot has committed to working in the interest of the Congress party and the Congress government in Rajasthan.

"Sachin Pilot has met former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and expressed his grievances in detail. They have had a frank, open and conclusive discussion. Sachin Pilot has committed to working in the interest of the Congress party and the Congress government in Rajasthan," said the statement.

"Following this meeting, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has decided that the AICC will constitute a three-member committee to address the issues raised by Sachin Pilot and the aggrieved MLAs and arrive at an appropriate resolution thereof."

Sachin Pilot has already been sacked from his position as party chief in the state as well as deputy chief minister. So he came off worse in the power struggle. He might get the deputy chief ministership back, something that Gehlot will concede in bad grace. Ashok Gehlot was hoping he would be rid of Pilot forever and was creating conditions for his expulsion from the Congress. He will now have to kiss and make up with a man, who is a party colleague, but bitterly critical of him. The trust deficit between the two leaders has never been as high as it is today. Relations will likely turn worse as the elected leader of the Congress Legislature Party (ie Gehlot) will now have to answer to a committee. The members of the committee have not been named yet.

Pilot’s flock of 19 MLAs neither grew, nor diminished after his rebellion. But if all the ‘dissident’ MLAs make their peace with the Gehlot administration, he will have lost the support of a group that was broadly sympathetic to him.

His meeting with Rahul Gandhi and overtures for a truce flow from the fact that many of his MLAs were becoming restive, especially after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made it clear it would play no part in coming to their rescue. Anxiety about falling between two stools led MLAs to reach out to the Congress leadership directly. This might have left Pilot with no option but to return to the fold.

However, while the rebellion might be over, the threat of another one at some future date remains. It is unlikely that Pilot’s ambitions will stay contained. But the party leadership might address the threat that Pilot was facing from Gehlot’s son Vaibhav. The question is whether this will be enough for pilot.

For the time being, however, the crisis in the Congress government in Rajasthan might have been averted. But tensions will not go away.