‘Forgive, Forget, Move On…First Win, Then CM Question’: Sachin Pilot on Past Acrimony with Ashok Gehlot | Exclusive

Ahead of the elections within the state, Congress chief Sachin Pilot, in an unique interview to News18, a day after getting a ticket from Tonk once more, says he’s assured that individuals in Rajasthan need to break custom and elect his get together once more. Pilot mentioned the get together first must win after which look who would be the Chief Minister.

ALSO READ | Congress Will Form Government Again in Rajasthan: Sachin Pilot

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot has had an acrimonious relationship with Pilot up to now, accusing him of attempting to convey down the Congress authorities and in addition calling him “nakara” and “gaddar”. Opening up on this situation, Pilot mentioned the 2 leaders had been now united. “Mallikarjun Kharge instructed me…it’s a must to neglect, forgive and transfer on. Words as soon as spoken are by no means taken again. We must look past that and we’re working unitedly. For us, private likes and dislikes take a again seat when it’s a must to have a look at the individuals of Rajasthan who count on one thing from us,” Pilot instructed News18 in Tonk on Sunday.

On the issue of him becoming the CM if his party wins, Pilot said: “What is most important is for us to win. What will happen in the future, even I do not know. We have to win the election and then see what happens.”

He mentioned so much was amiss within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), given how former CM Vasundhara Raje was being sidelined and mentioned the BJP has confirmed to be an ineffective opposition. Pilot additionally claimed that the “wave in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana was serving to the Congress in Rajasthan as effectively”.

Edited excerpts:

How do you see Congress’s chances in Tonk, and Rajasthan?

The last time, Tonk had a BJP MLA when I contested. People supported me to win by a handsome margin. Not just my constituency of Tonk, there is a palpable sense in most voters that we have to break this trend of the past three decades that you change the government every five years. The broad sense I have got in my travels is that people are looking to repeat the Congress government.

Why do you think this will happen?

I say this because of the work the Congress government has done and also the fact that BJP has proven to be an ineffective opposition. The BJP was missing on the streets and even in the assembly for most of the past five years. The amount of vigor they should have shown for people’s issues was missing. Now in the last three months, to stand on a truck and do a yatra and expect people to vote for you, I do not think it will work this time. So I am confident that Congress will make a comeback.

I was quite restrained in the words I used and that is the way I have done my politics in the past 25 years. I do not want to talk about that as it is in the past and we have to look at the future. Like Mr Mallikarajun Kharge had told me when I went to see him in Delhi, he said you have to forgive, forget and move on.

There was earlier a bitter exchange of words between you and CM Gehlot. Have you both buried the hatchet?

It was not an exchange. I was quite restrained in the words I used and that is the way I have done my politics in the past 25 years. I do not want to talk about that as it is in the past and we have to look at the future. Like Mr Mallikarajun Kharge had told me when I went to see him in Delhi, he said you have to forgive, forget and move on. That is the mantra that holds true for all of us in the Congress. The time that has gone by is gone and will not return. Words once spoken are never taken back. We have to look beyond that and we are working unitedly in the Rajasthan Congress in terms of selecting candidates and campaigning, and there are no pulls and pressures unlike the BJP. For us, personal likes and dislikes, ambitions and choices take a back seat when you have to look at people of Rajasthan, who expect something from us. We have to work together and we are working together. We have to win the election and then see what happens.

So if the Congress wins, are we speaking to you as the next CM of Rajasthan?

What is most important is for us to win. Once we win, then we will see what the MLAs and the leadership decide to do.

Your supporters here say you should be made the CM this time as you did not get your due in 2018…

That could be the sentiment. The party has given space to all its leaders and as far as I am concerned, whatever job I have been given, in Jaipur or in Delhi or in the organisation, I have done it to the fullest to serve the people. What will happen in the future, even I don’t know. All I can say is that our first job is to get a majority and secure the mandate. Once we do that, the MLAs will decide who leads the government.

Priyanka Gandhi requested who’s the CM face of the BJP, however even the Congress doesn’t have a transparent CM face…

Well, the difference is that in the BJP, central leaders come and say vote for the lotus and vote on the PM’s face. The PM will not change his job and become the CM. In Rajasthan, we are all state leaders and the tradition in Rajasthan has been that winning MLAs and leadership in Delhi decide who will head the government. We are not seeking votes in the name of someone sitting in Delhi. We are seeking votes in the name of the leadership sitting in Rajasthan and the work we have done.

The BJP seems very confident in Rajasthan and says it has cornered the Congress on the issue of law and order and paper-leak issue. Even you raised the latter…

Paper leak obviously is a serious issue, and not just here, but anywhere in the country. It is wrong for us to not take action when young people’s hard work of years goes to waste. Poor families spend money on tuitions and coaching for young people. I am happy that the government has passed a new law in Rajasthan, with a penalty of life imprisonment, which is proving to be a deterrent. I felt this was an issue, which we should have taken up, and I am glad we did.

Also, for the BJP to claim law and order (is bad) exclusively in Rajasthan, look at what is happening in Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh. Yes, it is a state subject, but wherever there has been an incident, the action taken is what counts and the government has acted in appropriate fashion and, most times, the culprits have been caught. Now to give them adequate punishment is the job of the judiciary. There are many other states, which are performing the worst. Here in Rajasthan, making a First Information Report (FIR) is compulsory to ensure justice, so that is why the number of cases being reported is higher.

ALSO READ | BJP Only Gave Pain and Sorrow, Congress Will Retain Power in Rajasthan, Says Sachin Pilot

So there is no anti-incumbency against the Congress in Rajasthan?

I don’t think it is right to say there is no anti-incumbency, but there is nine years of anti-incumbency against the central government and the disarray that the BJP is currently in Rajasthan. There is inflation, job losses and disparity between the rich and poor is increasing, the way institutions have been politicised — young people are seeing all this and it is working against the BJP nationally. The wave in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana is helping the Congress’s prospects in Rajasthan. People are willing to give the Congress in Rajasthan another chance.

Is there something amiss in the BJP over how Vasundhara Raje has been sidelined?

A lot is amiss there. On individuals, it is their internal matter and I can’t say much, but from what I see, there is a lot of dissent and outcry over tickets they have declared. What they do to their leaders is very well-known. They are only talking about religions and masjid-mandir. There are protests over their tickets announced so far. They don’t have any vision or roadmap for the future. They are just abusing the Congress and making false allegations.