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On maiden visit to Tonk after his rebellion, Pilot wants Congress workers to be rewarded
Sachin Pilot, along with 18 other Congress MLAs, had camped in Haryana, demanding a change of leadership in the government. Three Independent MLAs had also supported him.
Former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that everyone who had worked to bring the Congress party to power in the state should be involved in the government on the basis of their seniority and merit.
On his first visit to his assembly constituency Tonk, after the rebellion in mid-July, Pilot said people who struggled with him for six and a half years should be sufficiently rewarded even as he maintained that he had no attraction for top posts.
“When I came here as PCC president six-and-a-half years ago, we were only 21 MLAs. People used to say the Congress cannot rise again because there’s Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan and Narendra Modi in Delhi… People who faced lathis, demonstrated on streets, organised marches and sit-ins, did gheraos and went to districts should be sufficiently rewarded for their contribution and sacrifice according to their seniority and merit,” Pilot said at the Circuit House in Tonk.
“I have not asked for any post for myself – I am happy being among my people,” he added.
Pilot, along with 18 other Congress MLAs, had camped in Haryana, demanding a change of leadership in the government. Three Independent MLAs had also supported him.
The Ashok Gehlot government herded the remaining Congress MLAs in a hotel and removed Pilot, Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the council of ministers for the rebellion that had put the government at the risk of being toppled. The stalemate was resolved after the Congress party decided to form a three-member committee to redress issues raised by the Pilot camp.
Earlier, Pilot had said at his Jaipur residence that the committee will solve “all issues”.
“The Congress president has formed the committee very fast. It will discuss and decide how it wants us to work. Whatever we need to say, we will say on the party platform so that our issues reach the high command through the committee,” Pilot said before leaving for Tonk.
He said the road map that the party had decided for Rajasthan would be implemented soon.
On the question of whether he would be back in the council of ministers, Pilot said members of the committee will decide who needs to be used where. “The party will decide who should work in the government and who should work in the organization,” said the former president of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).
“All issues will be discussed with the committee and solutions will come from this committee only,” he added.
The Congress leader said he loved being among the people. “People have supported me in every condition so I want to be with them to share their sorrows and pain and to ensure their participation in governance,” he said.
Pilot visited Tonk last in April when he had reviewed the management of Covid-19 in the district. He said on the Covid-19 front a lot of work has been done. “We should not become complacent and work more to control the rise of this infection,” he said.
The Congress leader received a grand welcome on the way to Tonk, especially in Chaksu, the constituency of Ved Prakash Solanki, who was in the Pilot camp during the political turmoil in the state. Several people turned up to garland Pilot and welcome him. Pilot also received a grand welcome in Tonk.
