Assembly elections 2018: Sachin Pilot will finally get to wear the saafa this year

The 41-year-old Congress leader vowed not to wear the traditional Rajasthani turban in 2014, when his party lost the Lok Sabha election, until it wrested power in the desert state.

Pilot is one of the two contenders along with Congress warhorse Ashok Gehlot for the top job in the state. And, leaders say he has earned his stripes by helping the Congress back in the winner’s seat after a series of electoral debacles since 2013.

The Congress on Tuesday handed the BJP a defeat in the crucial heartland state of Rajasthan, known to choose between the saffron outfit and the grand old party alternately, as was widely expected. It had 99 seats on its own and 100 along with its ally, Rashtriya Lok Dal, in the house of 200 legislators.

The trained pilot has served effortlessly on the national political scene as well as in the state.

The two-time parliamentarian and son of former leader Rajesh Pilot who was killed in a road accident in 2000, was handed over the responsibility to steer the state by party president Rahul Gandhi in 2013, when the Congress faced its worst drubbing, winning just 21 seats against the BJP’s 163.

He was elected as a member of Parliament from his father’s constituency Dausa in 2004 to become the youngest lawmaker at the age of 26. He was reelected from Ajmer in 2009. And on Tuesday, Pilot won his first assembly seat from Tonk by defeating BJP’s’ Yoonus Khan with a margin of more than 54,000.

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Pilot served in the UPA government in different capacities as the minister of state for communication and IT in 2009 and minister of state (Independent charge) for corporate affairs in 2012. He also served as a member of Parliament’s standing committee on home affairs, the consultative committee in the ministry of civil aviation and also budget estimates committee.

Born on September 7, 1977, Pilot is an English literature graduate from New Delhi’s St Stephen’s College and a management degree holder from the Wharton Business School. He also worked with the BBC at its Delhi Bureau and then the General Motors Corporation.

The chief of Congress’ Rajasthan unit is married to National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah’s daughter Sara and is the father of two sons. Pilot, who received his private pilot’s licence (PPL) from the US in 1995, has also represented Delhi in a number of national shooting championships.

He was also commissioned as a lieutenant in the Territorial Army.