For the first time, the Congress has given indications of sidelining Sachin Pilot by not including him in the state election star campaigners list. The party has released the list of star campaigners for the Karnataka elections, in which Pilot was not given the place in the 40 member campaigner that the party has lined up.
The list includes party president Mallikarjun Kharge along with former state presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, along with Priyanka Gandhi, all prominent leaders of Karnataka, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel etc. Sonia Gandhi’s name in campaigner list.
The list of star campaigners released for the Karnataka elections became important because for the first time the party has taken such a tough stand on Sachin Pilot. The party has not taken any action against Sachin because of the Karnataka elections.
Sachin’s repeated outbursts have antagonised the party high command too. Rajasthan state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa gave came out with a strong statement saying, “I have not come from Punjab just like that. I have come to get the government come back to power in Rajasthan.”
Randhwa’s gestures only indicate that the party is not going to give any concession to Sachin now. After his hunger strike last week, Sachin Pilot stayed away from the party programme and participated in private programmes. Political observers said that the way he again attacked the government, it became clear that he too made up his mind to leave the party.
Even after Randhawa’s warning, Sachin and his supporters are not leaving no opportunity to target their own government. Last week, the situation became serious when Sachin Pilot, in a press conference, exposed his views on the issue of corruption of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The government targeted Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Ignoring all warnings of the high command, he sat on a dharna on the second day. On the same day there were indications that Sachin would not stay in the Congress for long. However, after this he got the same clarification from organization general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath. Granted that he did not say anything against the chief minister. On the contrary, he expressed displeasure that why the in-charge Randhawa talked about action. After this, Kamal Nath
From Monday, where Randhawa, along with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and State President Govind Singh Dotasara, meeting with MLAs and office bearers, was planning a strategy to win the election.
At the same time, Sachin kept away from the meetings and was targeting the Gehlot government by holding public meetings. Political observers said it is clear from the kind of politics that Sachin is doing now that the Congress will not give him any respect. He was sacked from the post of state president for three years due to his efforts. Since then he and his supporters have been trying to destabilize their government.