Act against Raje for graft charges, Pilot tells Gehlot

Jaipur: Firing a fresh salvo at CM Ashok Gehlot, his former deputy Sachin Pilot on Thursday asked why no action has been taken in the last four years on allegations of corruption levelled collectively by Congress against BJP leader and former CM Vasundhara Raje.
Addressing a farmers' convention in Pali district, Pilot said he hopes action would be taken by the Gehlot government in the remaining 11 months of its rule.
He said BJP leaders at the Centre have been making "false allegations" against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and that cases against them are being lodged and they are summoned by Enforcement Directorate for questioning. "They are thus insulted and harassed, but why has the Congress government in Rajasthan not taken action against those BJP leaders who were involved in corruption and scams?" asked Pilot.
This is the fourth day in a row when Pilot attacked the state government of his party on several issues. Ever since Congress formed the government in Rajasthan in December 2018, Gehlot and Pilot are locked in a power tussle.
Pilot said when he was the state party chief from 2013 to 2018 and Congress was in the Opposition, he had exposed the corruption done by the state's previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje and that Congress had collectively levelled corruption charges against her, but no action has been initiated against them by the present Congress government.
"I do not want to work with vendetta, but we have to take action against those whose corruption was exposed by us. We had constantly challenged the then Vasundhra Raje government, and her name was alleged in every scam," said Pilot.
"We had promised that after we come to power, an investigation into those scams would be conducted and the guilty would be punished. If we fail to fulfil the promise, the people will not trust us," added Pilot.
Referring to the earlier term of Congress from 2008 to 2013, the Tonk MLA said the Mathur commission was constituted to probe corruption charges against the previous BJP government (2003-2008), but nothing happened that time as well.
"This time also, four years of the government have passed. Just 11 months are left. I hope action will be taken," he said.
Pilot has been targeting the state government in his rallies over incidents of paper leaks, devoted Congress workers being ignored, and retired bureaucrats being given political appointments. He began his rally from Jat-dominated Nagaur on Monday and will address the last meeting in Jaipur on Friday.