JAIPUR: Playing “the outsider” card has sent political temperatures soaring in Assembly election-bound Rajasthan.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who is seeking a re-election and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Sachin Pilot, are locked in a battle of words, with each calling the other an “outsider who does not deserve to lead the state.”
While Raje, who hails from the Scindia family of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, was married into the royal family of Rajasthan's Dholpur, the Congress’ Sachin Pilot was born and brought up in New Delhi.
The issue began heating up after BJP leaders accused Pilot of being an outsider who hailed from Delhi and adding that the Congress was forcing him on the people of Rajasthan.
At a Press conference, Pilot replied to the accusations by saying that it was Raje who didn’t belong to Rajasthan.
He said that he had old ties with Rajasthan as his father Rajesh pilot had fought elections from Bharatpur at a time when the BJP wasn't even born as a party.
"Our Chief Minister's association with Rajasthan began after she was 23-years-old. Everybody knows where she was born and everybody is aware of BJP stalwart L K Advani being born in Pakistan. So the people accusing me of being an outsider should look at themselves first," he added.
However, on the occasion of Deepavali Milan at the BJP office on Sunday, in a clear rejoinder to Pilot's remarks, Raje said that she had come to Rajasthan as a daughter-in-law and would remain in the state till her death.
"My doli (bridal palanquin)' came to Rajasthan and only my 'arthi' (funeral cortege) will leave from here, and I will continue to serve the people of Rajasthan till then. But those who ask me should tell us where do their in laws belong to,” she questioned.
Pilot is married to Sara, who is the daughter of former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah.
The war of words did not stop and intensified further after Pilot retorted, “Rather than asking about my in-laws, she should tell us why farmers have been committing suicide in Rajasthan? As for me everybody knows where my heart belongs. But it is a standard procedure of the BJP to divide people on the basis of religion and on the basis of 'insider outsider' politics."
Box: Jumping into the fray
Independent MLA Hanuman Beniwal, president of recently-formed Jantantrik Party, the emerging third front, jumped into the debate by calling both Pilot and Raje outsiders.
"Political outsider, come here to graze in the political fields .Twice Raje had been CM and Pilot was minister in the UPA government. People know both of them very well now. They have no connection with the people and the culture here and will be sent outside forever now,” Beniwal.