Congress leader PL Punia’s initial statement puzzled him.
Strong points
- PL Punia’s statement did much harm
- “I actually said that on Scindia, not on Pilot,” he said.
- Around the same time, Sachin Pilot declared that he was not joining BJP
New Delhi:
A congressional leader said today that “Sachin Pilot is now in the BJP” and later corrected himself by saying it was a slip of the tongue. PL Punia’s leader’s statement had done much harm when Sachin Pilot, around the same time, officially declared that he was not joining the BJP.
This morning journalists interviewed Mr. Punia about Jyotiraditya Scindia – who left Congress in March and joined the BJP – saying that Congress had sidelined Mr. Pilot.
“Sachin Pilot is now at the BJP. Everyone knows about BJP’s attitude towards the Congress party. We do not need a certificate from him. Within the Congress party, all leaders and workers are respected, “said Punia, head of Congress in charge of Chhattisgarh, was reportedly quoted by the ANI news agency.
#WATCH Sachin Pilot is now in Bharatiya Janata Party. Everyone knows the attitude of the BJP towards the Congress party. We do not need a BJP certificate. In the Congress, all the leaders and the workers are respected: general secretary of the AICC in charge of Chhattisgarh, PL Punia pic.twitter.com/kQNd77J2cK
– ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2020
Shortly after, came the clarification.
“ANI and others had come to take my quote. They asked questions about Mr. Scindia alleging that Congress was putting Mr. Pilot aside and therefore he was upset. To this I replied about Scindia , that he is in the BJP, so we don’t need a certificate from him. But by mistake, the name of Sachin Pilot was taken. I didn’t realize my mistake at the time. actually said that about Scindia, not Pilot. I know the pilot made it clear that he’s not going to the BJP “clarified on camera.
It is clear in the video that the question was asked about Scindia ji and my answer was about Sh Scindia and by a tongue I took the name of Sachin Pilots instead of Scindia. The error is regretted https://t.co/hYws6XefKX
– P L Punia (@plpunia) July 13, 2020
Pilot has rebelled against Congress and claims that he has enough figures to bring down the Rajasthani government from its rival, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
However, he told GalacticGaming that he would not join the BJP, tackling speculation that he would follow Mr. Scindia’s route.
Mr. Scindia helped bring down the Congressional government in Madhya Pradesh when he joined the BJP with his supporters.
Yesterday, Mr. Scindia tweeted to support Mr. Pilot, his former colleague.
(With entries from ANI)
