Pilot announces foot march, sharpens attack on Gehlot
He cited Gehlot’s speech in Dholpur on Sunday and said it seems the chief minister’s leader is not Sonia Gandhi but his predecessor, Vasundhara Raje.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday announced he will begin a five-day foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur two days later to raise issues such as corruption as he sharpened his attack on Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot for inaction over graft and questioned his loyalty to their party’s leadership.
He cited Gehlot’s speech in Dholpur on Sunday and said it seems the chief minister’s leader is not Sonia Gandhi but his predecessor, Vasundhara Raje.
In his speech, Gehlot said Raje and two other opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, former assembly speaker Kailash Meghwal and legislator Shobharani Kushwah, helped save his government when Pilot led a revolt of Congress legislators against him in 2020.
Gehlot requested the legislators who “took the money” during the 2020 political crisis to “return it to Union home minister Amit Shah.”
He said if they did not return the money, they will always be under pressure from Shah.
Pilot rubbished claims that the legislators got money from Shah as false. “Our protest was against Gehlot’s style of functioning,” he said. “It is condemnable. I categorically deny false and baseless allegations.”
Pilot called Gehlot’s criticism of lawmakers of his own party unprecedented. “Praising BJP leaders and dishonouring those of Congress is beyond my understanding. This is absolutely wrong,” said Pilot. He added some people want to weaken the Congress but they will not let them succeed. “After listening to Ashok Gehlot’s speech in Dholpur, I have understood why we could not take action in the cases of corruption...No leader is more important than the public.”
Pilot said he will also raise issues related to the younger people during his Jan Sangharsh Padyatra from Ajmer to Jaipur. “I believe the right decisions are only taken when one has the people’s support...Any further decision will be taken after this yatra.”
In July 2020, Pilot and 18 other Congress lawmakers revolted against Gehlot. The crisis lasted nearly a month before the Congress leadership removed Pilot as the deputy chief minister and state Congress chief.
