Ahead of assembly polls in Rajasthan, the fissures in the Congress’s state unit came out in public on Sunday with the former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot opening a fresh line of attack against sitting chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
Pilot has attacked Gehlot for not acting against the alleged corruption of the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje.
Pilot also announced that he will sit on a one-day fast against corruption on Tuesday.
At a press conference, held at Pilot’s residence 11, Civil Lines in Jaipur on Sunday noon, he played old videos of CM Gehlot in which the later is accusing Raje of corruption charges.
“Why has the Gehlot government not initiated any investigation into these matters of the excise mafia, illegal mining, land encroachment and the Lalit Modi affidavit case? Congress government had evidence against the former BJP government but had not acted on it”, said Pilot.
“Before the next polls, wasn’t it necessary to assure the people of Rajasthan that the Congress government was acting on promises made before the 2018 assembly elections? It was the public which believed in us and we rose from 21 seats to 100 seats”, added Pilot.
Explaining his concern on the issues of corruption Pilot added, “I have written several letters to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. On March 28, 2022 and on November 2, 2022, I sought action in the cases of corruption. But so far there is no reply and neither has he acted on corruption charges he once levelled against the previous government”.
The 45-year-old Pilot said that he will observe a day-long fast at Shaheed Smarak on April 11. When asked if he will be joined by any supporters, he said “No I shall be fasting alone. It will be a day-long fast”.
The recent statement of Pilot accusing Gehlot of sitting over the alleged corruption charges of the Raje government is evident the previous efforts of creating a truce between the warring factions have not worked. The duo has been locked in a tussle since the party came to power in the state in December 2018.
In the last few months, Pilot attacked the state government over incidents of paper leaks in the state and political appointments of retired bureaucrats and the 2008 Jaipur bomb blast verdict in which the high court gave a clean chit to four accused earlier convicted by the lower court.
Pilot also accused the home minister of Rajasthan who happens to be the CM, and alleged that the acquittal was due to the weak representation of the government advocates in the court.
Assembly polls in Rajasthan are slated for December 2023. At present Congress has 106 MLAs, the BJP 71, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, the CPI(M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) two each, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one. The Assembly has 13 independent legislators.
