The Rajasthan political crisis deepened as dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Monday threatened a massive movement in the desert State if action on his demands is not taken by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot by the month-end.
“If action is not taken by this month-end on these three demands, an agitation will be launched across the State. I will serve people till my last breath, nothing scares me,” Pilot said at a rally in Jaipur to mark the completion of his five-day “Jan Sangharsh Yatra” foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur over “inaction” by the Gehlot Government on “corruption” during the previous BJP term in the State.
So far the Congress has termed Pilot’s move anti-party activity and in this regard three separate meetings were held by the national and State leadership and the final call will be taken after the Karnataka political issue is settled.
Flanked by at least 14 other Congress MLAs at a rally here on Monday, the former Deputy CM who has not been on good terms with his party’s heavyweight Gehlot served notice to the CM to either agree to their demands by the month-end or face a State-wide agitation.
Rajasthan Forest Minister Hemaram Choudhary, Sainik Kalyan Minister Rajendra Gudha and SC/ST Commission chairman Khiladi Lal Bairwa were among the Congress legislators on the dais, indicating support for the leader who headed a rebellion against Gehlot in
2020.
Deependra Singh Shekhawat, Harish Meena, Giriraj Malinga, Rakesh Pareek, Ramniwas Gawriya, Indraj Gurjar, Virendra Choudhary, Suresh Modi, Vedprakash Solanki, GR Khatana, Mukesh Bhakar too were present. The show of strength by Pilot comes just months before the Assembly polls when the party hopes to return to power in Rajasthan.
The intensification of the Gehlot-Pilot tussle came on a day when the party’s central leadership is struggling to pick a CM in Karnataka after winning the Assembly polls a couple of days earlier.
Apart from a call for a high-level probe into corruption, Pilot spelled out two other demands - disbanding the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reconstitution, and compensation for those affected by the cancellation of Government recruitment exams after paper leaks.
“So far I have done ‘anshan’ and taken out a ‘yatra’. If action is not taken in the interest of the youth on these three demands, I will launch an agitation in the entire state. We will walk on foot with people in villages and hamlets, and get them justice,” he added, as the crowd of several thousand people shouted in support,” Pilot said, adding that nothing will cow him down.
Pilot said his agitation was not against anyone but against corruption and for the youth. But Gehlot, who became the Chief Minister after the party ignored his own claim to the post in 2018, was clearly the main target.
At the Jaipur rally, Pilot also referred to the boycott by the CM loyalists of a Congress Legislature Party meeting in September last year, called amid speculation that Pilot will be made the Chief Minister and Gehlot the party’s national president.
Pilot said whoever talks about factionalism and betrayal of the party should introspect over their own “betrayal” and the “insult” to party leader Sonia Gandhi last year. They should think over “whether we or they broke discipline”, he added.
“We remained in public even after being abused and worked to strengthen the organisation, and you are abusing and maligning us after devouring the cream (‘malai’),” he said in an apparent reference to the Gehlot camp. “This will not do,” he added.
He also recalled a recent remark by the CM in which he credited BJP leaders Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal for “saving” his Government in 2020 - when Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs rebelled.
“What kind of policy is this that you malign the image of your own party leaders and praise others,” Pilot asked.
