Sachin Pilot has been shocked since Congress chose Ashok Gehlot in his place for the post of chief minister.
New Delhi:
An MP from the Sachin Pilot camp said on Monday that lawmakers backing former Rajasthan’s former deputy minister would not join the BJP and their fight was to “save the party” by effecting a change of leadership in government of Rajasthan.
Ladnun MP Nagaur Mukesh Bhakar, who was removed from his post as head of the state Youth Congress last week, also called on the party’s high command that in order to save Congress they must act now and change the direction of the state.
Asked about Congress’ claim that they were under the protection of the BJP in Haryana, a state led by the Saffron party, Mr Bhakar said, “No one is in a BJP state, we are in Delhi”. He did not specify, however.
Against the accusation by Congressman Giriraj Singh Malinga that Mr. Pilot offered him money to join the BJP, Mr. Bhakar claimed that it was the supporters of Pilot who had been drawn for a year and a half with money, ministerial posts and contracts to go through. at Gehlot’s camp.
Mr Bhakar claimed that he and other supporters of Pilot always received offers from Gehlot’s camp.
“But, we supported our leader,” Bhakar said.
When asked if they could join the BJP, he categorically denied any such plans and said, “We haven’t met anyone from the BJP and no one has contacted us.”
“We said this earlier and our leader Sachin Pilot has also made it clear that we will not be joining the BJP and that our fight is for a change of leadership in our state,” he said.
These things are said to tarnish the image of Mr. Pilot and his supporters, he said.
Mr Bhakar said he and many other MPs had made every effort to make Delhi rulers understand over the past year and a half that Mr Pilot was being ignored, but their appeals went unanswered.
“We have met with Avinash Pande (AICC in charge of state), KC Venugopal (secretary general, organization) Mukul Wasnik (general secretary) to repeatedly express our concerns that Pilot was being ignored, but they did not ‘weren’t listening,’ he told PTI. .
“Gehlot wants Pilot to quit this party and that is why he is making such abusive statements and allegations,” the MP said.
Mr Bhakar also alleged that the very people the government was formed on are now being stalked.
Last week, in an open revolt, Mr. Pilot and 18 other loyalist MPs challenged a party whip to attend two meetings of the Legislative Assembly Party of Congress. He was then sacked from his post as chief deputy minister and head of the CPC.
The confrontation came after the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group launched an investigation into alleged horse trading attempts to overthrow the Gehlot government and issued an advisory for Mr Pilot to appear during the investigation. SOG had also sent a notification to Mr. Gehlot.
Later, Rajasthan’s chief minister alleged that Mr. Pilot was part of the BJP conspiracy, which denied the allegations and blamed the Gehlot-Pilot power struggle for the congressional unrest in the state.
Meanwhile, the Rajasthan High Court is hearing a plea from Mr. Pilot and other rebel MPs against the disqualification notices sent to them by the Speaker of the Assembly.
In the assembly of 200 member states, the Congress has 107 deputies, including the former deputy chief minister, Mr Pilot, and 18 deputies who are loyal to him.
Mr Pilot has been upset since Congress chose Mr Gehlot in his place for the post of chief minister, following the assembly elections in December 2018.
