Rajasthan Congress in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday said that action will be taken against Pilot for "going against the party" and holding a fast against the Gehlot government. "Rajasthan will not be allowed to go the Punjab way. Pilot's issues are right, but the method of protest is wrong," he said.
Pilot on Tuesday staged a day-long fast at Jaipur’s Shaheed Smarak against the Gehlot government, demanding action against allegations of corruption by the previous state government.
Pilot said, “The allegations of corruption are not new, they are already in the public domain.” He said he “wrote twice” demanding action, but there was no response. “So action should be taken so that people don't think that there is a difference between what we promise and what we do,” he said.
Randhawa on Wednesday said: "I agree with the issue of corruption raised by Sachin Pilot, but the way he raised it is not correct. He should have raised it during the assembly session. Today, I discussed the matter with Sachin Pilot for half an hour. We will talk tomorrow as well. I will analyse everything and prepare a report. Action should have been taken in the past but that was not done. But this time action will be taken."
Alluding to the complete breakdown of party unity in Punjab, Randhawa said that he would not let the same happen in Rajasthan. In Punjab, the rift between former CM Charanjit Singh Channi and ex-Congress president for the state Navjot Sidhu led to a massive crisis, which ultimately cost the party heavily. The party came down to merely 18 seats in the assembly elections last year, losing 59 seats. The crisis had, in fact, started after Sidhu was elevated to the post of party president. This led to a confrontation with veteran leader and then CM Captain Amarinder Singh, who ultimately resigned and formed his own political outfit.
The Congress wants to prevent a rerun of the same in Rajasthan, especially with the assembly elections just a few months away and the Lok Sabha polls due next year. The Gehlot-vs-Pilot factional feud nearly led to a breakdown in Congress last year when, Gehlot was eyeing the Congress president's post, which eventually went to Mallikarjun Kharge. Pilot had then hoped to take over CM's chair, a post promised to him in 2020. However, the Gehlot faction had made it clear that this would not be acceptable to it. The rift was quite visible and the state Congress unit managed to return from the verge of a collapse and maintain status quo.