Keeping up the pressure on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that he will not backtrack from the promises he had made to the people of the state.
Speaking at his Assembly constituency Tonk, Pilot said, “My assurances and commitment to the youth in the public domain aren’t empty talk… it is not possible for me to compromise on the two issues of corruption and the future of youth.”
“Two days ago, I had a meeting in Delhi with the party leadership, the president. The party knows about the demands I had kept. I believe the government will act. It is the last day of the month. I had said on May 15 that the government should act soon… so now I am waiting. The responsibility of taking action lies with the state government,” Pilot added, as quoted by The Indian Express.
Pilot’s remarks come after he and Gehlot met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and party’s Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa in New Delhi on Monday evening.
After a meeting with both the leaders which went on for about four hours, Pilot and Gehlot stood on both sides of Venugopal for a photo op. While none of the Rajasthan leaders made any remark, Venugopal said that both the leaders would fight the elections together and have “unanimously agreed with the proposal”.
On May 15, flanked by 15 Congress MLAs in Jaipur, Pilot had served notice to Gehlot to agree to their demands by May end or face a state-wide agitation.
The former deputy leader to Gehlot had undertaken a five-day foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur over “inaction” by the Gehlot government on alleged “corruption” cases during the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government. Apart from this, Pilot also demanded disbanding the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reconstitution, and compensation for those affected by the cancellation of government recruitment exams after paper leaks.
Although the pressure remains for Gehlot, the CM has not expressed any interest in reopening the alleged corruption cases during the BJP tenure.