‘Nothing scares me’: Sachin Pilot’s warning to Gehlot govt with deadline

Accompanied by 15 Congress MLAs at a rally here on Monday, dissident leader Sachin Pilot on Monday served notice to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot – agree to his demands by the end of the month or face statewide agitation. The Gehlot-Pilot power struggle in the Rajasthan Congress intensified on a day the party’s central leadership struggled to choose between two contenders for the chief minister’s post — Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar — after winning the assembly elections in Karnataka.

The public meeting marked the completion of Pilot’s five-day foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur over ‘inaction’ on ‘corruption’ by the Gehlot government during the previous BJP tenure in the state. Apart from calling for a high-level probe into corruption, Pilot also put forward two other demands for the dissolution of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reconstitution and compensation for those affected by the cancellation of government recruitment exams following the paper leak.

Pilot said, “If action is not taken on these three demands by the end of this month, agitation will be started across the state.” The former deputy CM also mentioned his one-day fast last month. He said, ‘Till now I have fasted and taken out a yatra. If action is not taken on these three demands in the interest of the youth, then I will start agitation in the entire state. “We will walk with people in villages and hamlets and get them justice,” he said.

The pilot said that he was not going to bow down. “I promise that I will continue to serve the people of Rajasthan till my last breath, irrespective of the position I hold or not. No one can scare me or suppress me, I have fought for you and Will continue to do so,” he said. Said. Pilot said that his movement is not against anyone but against corruption and for the youth. But Gehlot, who became chief minister in 2018 after the party ignored his own claim to the post, was clearly the prime target.

He referred to the boycott by the CM’s loyalists of the Congress Legislature Party meeting in September last year – when speculation was rife over the possibility of Gehlot being made the party’s national president, with Pilot holding the top Rajasthan post. Pilot said anyone who talks about factionalism and betrayal of the party should introspect on their ‘betrayal’ and ‘insult’ of party leader Sonia Gandhi last year.
He said that they should think whether ‘we broke discipline or they’.

He said in a possible reference to Gehlot and his camp, “We remained in public even after being abused and worked to strengthen the organization and you are abusing and defaming us by eating ‘malai’.” ” “It won’t do,” said the pilot.

He also referred to a recent remark by the CM in which he credited BJP leaders Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal for ‘saving’ his government when Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs rebelled in 2020. “What kind of policy is this that you malign the leaders of your own party and praise others,” Pilot said.

He said, “I have never leveled allegations against anyone. I have never used abusive language against anyone. They never left any chance to abuse me, but I am not worried about it.” Questioning the selection of the RPSC chairman and members, he claimed that it was common knowledge that these appointments were political.

“Appointments need to be done in a transparent manner, and people like scientists and lecturers need to be selected,” he said.