Sachin Pilot
'Not against anyone': Sachin Pilot skips party meet for solo outreach campaign
Jaipur/IBNS: Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot, locked in a power tussle with Chief Minister and party colleague Ashok Gehlot, Monday held a public outreach program on the outskirts of Jaipur even as the Congress gears up with the preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, Ashok Gehlot, party in charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee Govind Singh Dotasra are holding one-to-one meetings with MLAs.
Pilot's Assembly seat, Tonk, was also scheduled for a one-on-one meeting on Monday but the former Deputy Chief Minister is learnt to be absent as he is on a solo outreach program.
"I am not against any person or the Congress government here. This is against corruption which happened during Vasundhara Raje's time," Pilot told NDTV.
"I have been talking about this for a long time. When the (Rajasthan) government was three years old, I had written to the Chief Minister asking for his intervention, that we must investigate... With the election just months away, I don't want people to come and say we made so much noise but did nothing against corruption," he said.
On way to Shahpura pic.twitter.com/9BBLzuZPc5
— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) April 17, 2023
According to reports, Pilot decided to launch his solo campaign as a pressure tactic over the unresolved leadership tussle in Rajasthan that continues to worry Congress even after a successful Bharat Jodo Yatra season in the state.
However, the Pilot faction denied the speculations.
The outreach campaign is aimed at "keeping the party relevant and in action in an election year", media reports quoting sources close to Pilot claimed.
यज्ञ से निकली पवित्रता,
— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) April 17, 2023
एकजुट रखे हर इंसान को।
स्वाभिमान से आगे बढ़ाएं,
हमारे प्यारे राजस्थान को।
आज परमानंद धाम, खोरी शाहपुरा में यज्ञ में आहुति दी। pic.twitter.com/nw7KukhhF3
Congress wants to focus on Ashok Gehlot's social welfare schemes as they go into the next election, due in a few months, media reports quoting sources said.
According to reports, Pilot wasn't discussed at all during the one-on-one meetings, which revolved around "inflation relief camps", for which MLAs will shoulder big responsibilities.
Pilot, who had revolted against Gehlot, is credited for Congress' turnaround in Rajasthan and eventual victory in the 2018 assembly elections.
However, the Congress top brass led by then-president Rahul Gandhi had picked Gehlot as the successor of Vasundhara Raje of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Pilot was stripped of his Deputy Chief Minister's post when he had camped outside the state in a rebellion against the top brass.
The desert state is scheduled to go to polls in late 2023.
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