Congress boasts of a united field in Rajasthan, ‘no infighting’

The Congress’s two chief ministerial aspirants in Rajasthan — Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot — put up a joint show on Wednesday and announced they will both contest the Assembly elections in the State where the principal opposition party is confident of edging out the incumbent BJP.

At a press conference in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, Gehlot and Pilot underlined the “infighting” in the BJP when they rolled out the red carpet for Harish Meena, BJP MP from Dausa in Rajasthan, who joined the Congress on Wednesday. “There is no infighting here, we are fighting the BJP together. All those rumours that there is a division in the Congress have been exposed. The media tried to blow up this false narrative because they are under pressure from the BJP and (Prime Minister) Modi. Sachin Pilot and I will fight the elections together. And I will say that anyone who wants to fight the BJP, is welcome to do it with us because that is what we are doing,” said Gehlot.

Pilot said, “Today, everyone accepts that the people of Rajasthan are with the Congress. Of the 22 by-elections, Congress has won 20 despite the money and muscle power used by the BJP. We have pledged that we will not be over-confident, and till the last vote is cast the Congress workers will stand and guard the people’s vote.”

Pilot,president, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee, said he has decided to contest the upcoming polls “on the directions of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and our leader Ashok Gehlot”.

“I want to clarify that after the directions by Rahul Gandhi and Ashok Gehlot, I will also contest elections,” said Pilot. Gehlot took questions directed at Pilot about which seat he is contesting. “There should be one big piece of news at one time. You have asked where Sachin is contesting from. All that we can say is that he is contesting. The rest, you will get to know soon after the party has decided.

Pilot and Gehlot claimed there is a “huge internal rift” in the BJP that people are queuing up to join the Congress. According to Pilot, the BJP allotting tickets to 85 out of 131 sitting MLAs shows that it has lost faith in their ability to win.

Gehlot said, “We are happy to welcome Harish Meena into the Congress. There is a queue to join the Congress. We have to decide where to give entry. You all know that in all five assembly elections, Congress is now in a strong situation. The BJP is well aware of it and they are pumping money and muscle power into the elections. They have started Ram Mandir because they cannot deal with unemployment, farmers’ issues and the economy going down,” said Gehlot. “But people of this country are sensible and they understand only the Congress will be able to govern in a sensible way. The kind of inner-party divisions that are seen in Rajasthan cannot be covered by Amit Shah and Modi. Their report card is available to the people and they will vote out the BJP,” he said.

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