Congress leader and former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday targeted Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over his claim that some BJP leaders had helped save his government during the 2020 rebellion. Mr. Pilot said it seemed Mr. Gehlot’s “real leader” was the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje rather than his own party’s Sonia Gandhi.
Mr. Pilot also announced that he would undertake a 125-km-long ‘Jan Sangharsh Yatra’ on foot from Ajmer, where the Rajasthan Public Service Commission is headquartered, on May 11, to raise the issue of corruption and leakage of papers for government recruitment exams. The march will culminate in Jaipur after five days.
Mr. Pilot made the all-out attack on the veteran Congress leader, who is serving the third term as the CM, on the day the former party president, Rahul Gandhi, arrived at Mount Abu in Rajasthan to take part in a Sarvodaya Sangam training camp, and a day before polling for the Assembly election in Karnataka.
His outburst created ripples in the ruling Congress here, but no senior party leader was willing to comment on it. In New Delhi, AICC national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi refused to offer a direct answer when asked about the war of words between Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Pilot and the latter’s proposed anti-corruption yatra.
“Our party will firm up its stand in the next 24 hours. In the near future, the AICC general secretary for Rajasthan [Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa] will speak to you,” Mr. Singhvi said.
The official Twitter handle of the Congress described Mr. Gehlot as “ Jan-Jan Ke Mukhyamatri“ (people’s Chief Minister) while posting an official order by which a government college in Udaipur district’s Mavli was upgraded immediately into a post-graduate college on his instructions following the students’ demand during his visit to the town on Tuesday.
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Mr. Pilot’s riposte was perceived as a strategy to put pressure on both Mr. Gehlot and the party’s central leadership to act ahead of the Assembly election, due in December.
While affirming that no one should be allowed to indulge in “character assassination” of the MLAs, Mr. Pilot said his yatra was not aimed at Mr. Gehlot or anyone else, but was meant to bring the issue of corruption to limelight and generate a strong public opinion against corrupt practices. “It is easy to accuse, but it is difficult to answer the public,” he said.
The Tonk MLA’s no holds barred attack on Mr. Gehlot came on the latter’s recent claim, made in a speech in Dholpur, that he had survived the rebellion staged by Mr. Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs in 2020 because former CM Ms. Raje and two other BJP functionaries had refused to support a conspiracy to topple his elected government through money power.
Mr. Gehlot had also accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of paying crores of rupees to the rebel Congress MLAs as part of “horse trading” and asked them to return the money to him. He also offered to get funds from the All India Congress Committe (AICC) for them if they had spent some portion of the “ill-gotten money”.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Pilot said the Chief Minister had defamed senior MLAs who had spent over 30 years in public life. “I reject these false and baseless allegations. It is condemnable,” he said, while affirming that it was wrong to level charges against leaders from one’s own party.
Mr. Pilot, who was sacked as the Deputy CM and Pradesh Congress president after his failed rebellion, has been raising the issue of alleged corruption during the previous BJP regime with the demand for action before this year’s State Assembly polls. He staged a day-long fast in Jaipur on April 11, alleging inaction by the Gehlot government on the instances of corruption and scandals during the BJP rule.
While refuting the charge that the dissident MLAs had accepted money as bribe from the BJP, Mr. Pilot said he was the one asking Mr. Gehlot repeatedly to probe the graft cases during Ms. Raje’s tenure. “Now I understand why no action is being taken... I am not hopeful that anything will be done in future as well. It is clear from the CM’s speech in Dholpur,” he said.
He asserted that there were “certain contradictions” in Mr. Gehlot’s claim, as he had stated that the BJP had conspired to pull down his government, but at the same time Ms. Raje had helped save it.
The Tonk MLA also referred to a failed Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting in the State capital on September 25 last year, which was boycotted by about 70 MLAs, who also submitted their resignations. “This was the real indiscipline and betrayal. The way the CLP meeting was handled was an insult to Ms. Gandhi, as it was convened on her direction,” he said.
“Many people allege that the resignations were made at the behest of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. If I say such things from this platform now, will it behove me?” he asked, while drawing a parallel with Mr. Gehlot’s claim of bribes being paid to the rebel Congress MLAs.
The former Deputy CM said he had tolerated much name-calling and attacks from Mr. Gehlot over the past two-and-a-half years. “He called me gaddar (traitor), nikamma (useless), corona… Several insinuations were directed at me. I did not react because I did not want to weaken the party,” Mr. Pilot said.
The Opposition BJP has already reacted strongly to Mr. Gehlot’s allegations and stated that he had made the charges to divert people’s attention from the serious charges of corruption against his Ministers and legislators. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhwat, who was also accused of joining the conspiracy to topple the government, said the BJP was exploring legal options to challenge Mr. Gehlot’s claim.
