Rajasthan elections 2023: CM Ashok Gehlot shares Sachin Pilot's video message after PM Modi's ‘infighting’ comment

A day before Rajasthan goes for its assembly elections, CM Ashok Gehlot shared a video post on X (formerly Twitter) of Congress leader Sachin Pilot urging people to vote for his party in the upcoming polls, putting an end to the rumours of intra-party dispute. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mentioned the power tussle between the two senior Congress leaders in his pre-poll campaign.

Gehlot in his post on X called Pilot a "Congress youth leader" and asked people to vote for the ruling party in Saturday's election.

In the video, Sachin Pilot can be seen talking about the re-election campaign. "In the past few weeks, all of us have travelled across the state to reach out to you, the voters. Based on the feedback, I am confident that the next government will be formed by the Congress," Pilot said.

He added: "In the past 30 years there has been a tradition... five years BJP, five years Congress. But this can be broken if everyone gives Congress their blessing."

On Thursday, PM Modi, while addressing a rally in Bhilwara district, blamed the Congress party for "victimising" Sachin Pilot, who is also Rajesh Pilot's son.

“In cricket, a batter comes and scores runs for his team. But there is so much infighting within the Congress that instead of scoring runs, its leaders spent five years trying to run out each other,” the Prime Minister said.

To this, Sachin Pilot told the Prime Minister there was no need for anyone other than his party and the people to worry about him.

On Thursday, Gehlot attacked PM Modi over his comments about the late Congress leader Rajesh Pilot, Sachin Pilot's father. At a gathering, Gehlot said the PM was trying to "instigate" the state's Gurjar community, who constitute 8-9 per cent of the population and whose votes impact 30-35 seats.

"The Prime Minister is now bringing the name of Rajesh Pilot into politics. In the name of the late Rajesh Pilotji, the PM wants to provoke the Gurjar community. But, during BJP rule, bullets were fired on Gurjars 22 times... 72 Gurjars died," Gehlot said Thursday hinting at the February 2008 clashes, when the BJP government was at power.

Pilot made headlines in 2020 after he with his 18 faithful MLAs camped in Delhi and Haryana almost brought down the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state. The crisis was averted after the Congress' central leadership intervened. Pilot was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and boss of the state unit.

Rajasthan votes in a single-phase election on Saturday with results due December 3.

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