NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot is elated after the party won three Assembly bypolls. “I am certain the Congress will come back to power in Rajasthan in eight months. The bypoll results will have a huge impact on the Assembly polls,” Pilot told The Sunday Standard in an exclusive interview.
He said that in the past 35 years, Lok Sabha bypolls have always been won by the ruling party. But in Alwar and Ajmer, people opted for the Congress despite knowing that the new lawmakers would be around only for one-and-a-half years and maybe less if the national polls are advanced by the BJP.
Pilot added that the results showed that the three bypolls were not a close contest between the Congress and the BJP. “The Congress won across all the 16 Assembly segments under the Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats. Together with the Mandalgarh Assembly bypoll, the Congress scored over the BJP in 17 Assembly seats,” he said. “We even did well in the Ajmer and Alwar cities and had a lead of 25,000 votes over the BJP.”
Pilot said CM Vasundhara Rajeshould step down owning moral responsibility for the BJP’s defeat in the bypolls. “The Congress candidates were not contesting against the BJP nominees but against the might of the state government,” he said.
The bypoll win has charged up the party in Rajasthan. “The victories have created a buzz in Delhi but we have been working hard on the ground for the past four years. We now have to work twice more vigorously to keep up the momentum,” said Pilot.
Recalling that he was given charge of the state unit after the Congress was wiped out in the 2013 Assembly polls, winning just 21 of the 200 seats, Pilot said, “I got into poll mode as soon as I took over four years ago. Since then I have campaigned in all local body polls and taken part in all protests that we staged against the Raje government.”
Establishing connect with party workers was the most important aspect of revamping the Congress in Rajasthan. He claimed there was no infighting in the state unit and all senior leaders—including former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and former Union minister CP Joshi—were working as a team. “The state unit is not divided. That is BJP propaganda. We are all working under the leadership of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. All the state leaders are working together to ensure a Congress victory in the Assembly polls,” said Pilot.
Noting the Congress was ready for simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha polls, Pilot claimed the party will win 20 of the 26 parliamentary seats in Rajasthan. “We had 20 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in 2009 but lost all in 2014. I hope we will reverse the tally in 2019,” he said.