New Delhi: Stung by sharp words from Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot over the weekend, senior Congress leader and former deputy chief minister in the Rajasthan government, Sachin Pilot, has responded.
On Sunday, Gehlot while addressing a public meeting in Dholpur attacked Pilot, and said that it was former chief minister Vasundhara Raje who saved his (Congress’s) government in 2020 when Pilot and his group of MLAs made their moves against it. Gehlot further attacked Pilot and his associates and said: “MLAs who made rebel moves against our government in 2020 must return the money they got from the BJP.”
Pilot said in the press conference today: “After listening to CM Ashok Gehlot’s Dholpur Speech, it seems like his leader is Vasundhara Raje Scindia, not Sonia Gandhi”.
Pilot further added, “Now I understand why CM Ashok Gehlot has not acted against the corruption charges over Vasundhara Raje.”
Last month, Pilot held a day-long fast in Jaipur against his own government in Rajasthan, over his demand of taking action against corruption that had been done in the previous government of Vasundhara Raje. Pilot has been increasingly isolated in his party and the Congress has gone as far to call it an anti-party move. Pilot is no longer the state PCC chief and also not in government.
Tonk MLA Sachin Pilot has indicated that he is all set to start his five-day-long “Jan Sangharsh Yatra” from May 11, starting from Ajmer to Jaipur. Assembly elections are due in Rajasthan in winter, and Pilot has been all but publicly reprimanded against trying to weaken the Congress’s campaign against the BJP by constantly circling the agenda back to internal rivalries.