‘Sachin Pilot has more support than he thinks’: Ashok Gehlot camp MLA Prashant Bairwa

Sachin Pilot was sacked as deputy CM of Rajastnan last month after openly revolted against CM Ashok Gehlot.

A Congress legislator loyal to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said that sacked deputy CM Sachin Pilot enjoys more support than he thinks. Prashant Bairwa, an MLA from Newai, is currently living at a resort in Jaisalmer where the Ashok Gehlot camp is holed up.

Prashant, while insisting that he is still loyal to Gehlot, claimed that dissident leader Sachin Pilot has more ‘well-wishers’ than he thinks.

He claimed that Pilot enjoys the support of 40 to 45 MLAs instead of 18. Pilot along with 18 dissident MLAs are camping at a resort in Gurugram ever since he openly revolted against Ashok Gehlot.

“Sachin Pilot had a big team; he had no idea,” the MLA said. “It would have been better had he taken advice from people like us and then, I believe, the number there could have been 40 or 45, not 19. But he did not take advice from us. I think somebody else was playing the game,” he added.

“He has his well-wishers here also but it does not mean that we will not vote for the Congress. We will 100% vote for the Congress,” the Congress MLA said.

Prashant was once considered a Sachin Pilot loyalist. He made the remarks while talking to a news channel when he came out of Jaisalmer’s Suryagarh hotel for a health check-up.

The Congress MLAs belonging to the Ashok Gehlot camp were moved to Jaisalmer from Jaipur after Governor Kalraj Mishra issued an order to convene a session of the Legislative Assembly from August 14. CM Ashok Gehlot is likely to seek a vote of confidence on the floor of the House.

According to Ashok Gehlot’s claim, he enjoys the support of 102 MLAs in the 200-member House. The Bharatiya Janata Party has 72 MLAs.