Last Update: April 11, 2023, 09:03 AM IST
The Ashok Gehlot camp says Sachin Pilot’s actions stemmed from desperation over the issue of being made the CM or next CM face before elections, with no acceptance within the Congress (PTI File)
Sachin Pilot will sit on a one-day fast today demanding action by his own government against the ‘corruption’ of the former Vasundhara Raje government. The move is also seen as the last ditch effort by Pilot to assert his importance in Rajasthan as none of his demands have been met so far.
Looks like a repeat of Punjab in Rajasthan for Congress. Sachin Pilot will sit on a one-day fast today demanding action by his own government against the ‘corruption’ of the former Vasundhara Raje government.
The events seem eerily similar to those in Punjab two years ago, when the state Congress chief, Navjot Singh Sidhu, raised the banner of rebellion against Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh for not taking action against the Badals in sacrilege and drug cases. was accused of. Business. Sidhu also argued that if action was not taken, people would reject the Congress in the elections as it had come to power promising justice in these cases. But unlike Pilot, Sidhu had the support of the Congress high command which eventually ousted Amarinder Singh as chief minister. Pilot’s rebellion in Rajasthan will only strengthen Gehlot’s hands in the Congress.
To be honest, Pilot has been demanding such action since the Congress came to power in the state for the last four and a half years. As state Congress chief ahead of the 2018 elections, Pilot had made ‘corruption’ under Raje a major election campaign issue and promised an inquiry if the Congress came to power. But the Pilot camp alleges that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot hasn’t acted against Raje on the informal understanding that the two leaders don’t want to go against each other – and that could cost the Congress dearly in the upcoming elections. This is one reason for the estrangement between the pilot and the CM.
The move is also seen as the last ditch effort by Pilot to assert his importance in Rajasthan as none of his demands have been met so far. He also tried to corner the government on the issue of paper leak and protest by the families of the Pulwama martyrs.
But the Congress in Rajasthan has thrown its weight behind Gehlot and publicly asked Pilot to end his day-long fast and raise his issues at party forums. In fact Pilot’s action will only strengthen Gehlot’s case before the Congress high command that Pilot is working against the interests of the party and should not be projected as the next CM face. Gehlot has been repeatedly citing Pilot’s rebellion in 2020 when he tried to topple the Congress government in the state with the help of some MLAs. Congress spokesperson Pawan Kheda has now said that investigation into that episode is also going on.
Indeed, the Gehlot camp says Pilot’s current actions stem from frustration over his being made the chief minister ahead of the elections or being projected as the next CM face – not having found acceptance within the Congress. Pilot has not held any position since 2020 after being removed as the state Congress chief and deputy chief minister and will have little or no role in ticket distribution in the upcoming elections.
The CM’s camp now wants strict disciplinary action against Pilot for trying to ’embarrass’ his own government just before the elections and give a handle to the BJP to expose the differences within the Congress to the voters. The Gehlot camp feels this goes against the very essence of contesting elections ‘jointly’ as Gandhi wanted.
With six months left, will the Pilot-Gehlot tussle in the year-end Rajasthan elections befall the Congress the same fate as in Punjab 2022? BJP is expecting this.
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