Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot says sole aim at present to defeat BJP in state

JAIPUR: Amid claims and counterclaims within the party to Rajasthan Chief Minister's post, Congress state unit President Sachin Pilot on Thursday said that his sole aim at present is to defeat the BJP and make his party form the state government.

"As Pandava prince Arjun was totally focused on his target, a fish's eye, I too am focusing on one thing: To form a Congress government in Rajasthan," said the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief, who has returned from a four-day Australia trip.

He said that the opposition party will work unitedly to ensure the ouster of the Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party government.

As for the party claimants to the CM's post, he said that the Congress had earlier too given him big responsibilities at quite a young age. "I was made an MP when I was just 25; I was made the Union Minister at 31; and now I am leading the Congress state unit at 35."

He also took a dig at Raje, asking her to remain well prepared during her 'Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra' since the public would question her on the unfulfilled promises made during the time she was in the opposition.

There have been claims and counterclaims by various Congress leaders in Rajasthan on the party's chief ministerial candidate. Many Congress leaders have demanded that Ashok Gehlot be named the party's chief ministerial face in the Assembly elections to be held this year.

In the past, Gehlot had said in Jodhpur: "When the (chief ministerial) face is in front of you for 10 years, where is the need to talk about a new face?"

Congress state party affairs incharge Avinash Pandey had announced later that the Assembly elections will be contested under the leadership of Congress President Rahul Gandhi.