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Pilot calls for working collectively to retain power for Congress in Rajasthan
The comments underlining the need to work collectively came days after the Congress was plunged into disarray when legislators loyal to chief minister Ashok Gehlot threatened to bring the government down unless he gets to pick his successor
Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot has said the Congress came to power in Rajasthan in 2018 under his leadership thanks to the hard work of their workers while underlining the need for working collectively to retain it when the state goes to the polls next year.
“Our goal is to retain power in the 2023 assembly polls, and we all are collectively working in this direction,” he told journalists in Kota on Monday.
Pilot, who later arrived in former chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s constituency of Jhalawar, said they won the last election because of the farmers, youths, and the poor. “It is our collective responsibility to fulfil the expectation of workers and the public.”
The comments underlining the need to work collectively came days after the Congress was plunged into disarray when legislators loyal to chief minister Ashok Gehlot threatened to bring the government down unless he gets to pick his successor.
Scores of Congress lawmakers, considered close to Gehlot, met at the residence of minister Shanti Dhariwal in a show of strength and threatened to resign. They insisted they want the new chief minister to be from the 102 legislators that supported Gehlot when former deputy Pilot rebelled against him in 2020. It is widely believed that the Congress’s top leadership assured Pilot that he would be made the chief minister after Gehlot.
The legislators opposed the one-line resolution that was likely to be adopted at a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party meeting authorising the party president to pick the new chief minister.
The controversy prompted Gehlot to opt out of the poll for the Congress’s top post on October 17. He was expected to resign as chief minister to contest the election as per the Congress’ one-man-one-post rule.
Congress leaders familiar with the matter said Pilot has begun touring the state as part of the poll preparations. They added his visits to Kota, Jhalawar, and Jhalrapatan were seen as an attempt to boost the morale of his supporters.
Raje separately hit out at the state government and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will return to power by winning over 163 of the 200 assembly seats. She added the state was lagging behind in development and the Congress leaders are busy in the race to become the chief minister.
“The BJP got 120 seats in 2003 and 163 seats in 2013. If we unitedly work, then we will cross 163 seats,” she told a gathering at Bikaner. She said there is a lot of resentment against the government. “Do not get divided into castes. If we fight unitedly, a historical win is certain.” She said the Gehlot government has failed on all fronts. “Under his leadership, the state is number one in atrocities against women, corruption, inflation, diesel, petrol prices, expensive electricity, and paper leaks.”
