‘I will be the shield, club, and spear’
JAIPUR:FORMER deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot made two interventions during a discussion on the confidence motion moved by the ruling Congress party in the Rajasthan assembly on Friday, responding to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who named him in connection with the recent political crisis triggered by his rebellion against chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
His first intervention was during the address by Rajendra Rathore, the deputy leader of opposition who asked why a notice was issued by the Rajasthan Police’s special operations group (SOG) to Pilot and why he rebelled against the party.
The 42-year-old former deputy chief minister rose from his seat and said: “They are taking my name repeatedly. Prior to my seat being changed, I was safe and part of the government. Then I thought why our speaker and chief whip [Mahesh Joshi] have given me a seat here? I thought for two minutes and then saw that this is a border.”
“On one side is the ruling party and on the other is the opposition. Who is sent to the border? The strongest warrior is sent,” he added. Pilot, who announced a truce earlier this week after a dialogue with the Congress high command in Delhi, also said:
“Having completed all the talks, we have come to the assembly today. It may rain fire at this frontline, but we all and I will be the shield, club and spear and will protect (the party).”
On Friday, Pilot, who was dismissed as the deputy chief minister on July 14 after his rebellion, sat in the second row — near the opposition benches — in the House. In the last session in March, he sat next to the chief minister in the front row. The new seating arrangement prompted jibes by the Opposition.
The SOG notice that Rathore raked up asked Pilot to record his statement regarding an alleged attempt to topple the Congress government and triggered the revolt that had been in the offing for months. Though the Congress said a similar notice was sent to Gehlot, leaders close to Pilot called it a “joke”; for it is the chief minister who is in charge of the home department that oversees the police force.
The Tonk legislator rose again during the address of leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, who said the Congress should laud Pilot for his achievements in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the state. Pilot was the rural development minister from December 2018, when the Congress formed the government, till he lost his portfolios on July 14.
“It would be better if you argued on the merits and demerits of the confidence motion,” Pilot told Kataria.
He said many things have been said during the discussion on the trust vote. “Over time, everything will be revealed,” Pilot said.
“Whatever I or my colleagues had to say or do, we went before a doctor and after treatment, all of us, all 107 of us, are united in the House,” Pilot said amid the thumping of the desk by Congress leaders. He was apparently referring to his Monday meeting with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi that doused his rebellion.
After the assembly was adjourned till August 21, Pilot said the BJP should not worry about what was happening in the Congress. “We don’t speak about the daggers drawn among the BJP leaders,” he said.
During the crisis, a section of the Congress alleged that he was working in coordination with the BJP, though Pilot publicly clarified that he will not join the opposition party.
Pilot said the government will complete its term and fulfil expectations. “We will work together to face challenges related to coronavirus, economic issues, farmers and youth...,” he added.
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government sailed through a floor test in the state assembly on Friday, an expected outcome that the ruling Congress hopes will bring down the curtain on a monthlong political crisis triggered by intense bickering between two factions of the party — one led by chief minister Ashok Gehlot and the other by his now-dismissed deputy Sachin Pilot.
Buoyed by the return of Pilot and 18 other rebel lawmakers to the Congress fold after a truce mediated by the party high command earlier this week, the government moved a confidence motion on the first day of the session, aiming to send across the message that Gehlot’s dispensation was stable and not facing any threat.
The motion, moved by the parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal and passed by a voice vote, did not throw any surprise.
“Winning the trust vote in the assembly is a message to the forces that are trying to destabilise elected governments in the country. Their every tactic failed in Rajasthan,” Gehlot tweeted, taking a veiled dig at the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “It is people’s aunwavering trust in us and the unity of our Congress MLAS that has brought this victory,” he added.
Pilot, who met Gehlot a day before at a Congress meeting in their first such interaction in at least over a month, said the outcome should end speculations over the government’s stability. “Despite various attempts by the opposition, the result [of the trust vote] is in the favour of the government,” he told reporters outside the assembly after the session was adjourned.
In the House, he described himself as one of the “strongest warriors” of the Congress, responding to opposition leaders taking his name in connection with the recent crisis during a debate on the motion.
On July 14, Pilot was sacked from the posts of the deputy chief minister and the state Congress president after his revolt threatened the state government.
In the first session since then, he was allotted a seat in the second row — close to the opposition section — in a new arrangement. Previously, he used to sit next to the chief minister in the front row.
“They are taking my name repeatedly. Prior to my seat being changed, I was safe and part of the government. Then I thought why our speaker and chief whip [Mahesh Joshi] have given me a seat here? I thought for two minutes and then saw that this is a border.
“On one side is the ruling party and on the other is the opposition. Who is sent to the border? The strongest warrior is sent,” he said, interrupting Rajendra Rathore, the deputy leader of the opposition and a BJP leader.
Gehlot, who concluded the debate, reiterated his charge against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and accused it of trying to bring down the government. “I will not let the government topple at any cost even if you make all attempts,” he said.
The chief minister also accused the BJP of “creating conflicts” and targeting elected Congress governments across the country. “The conspiracy was yours, of your party and your high command... democracy is in danger,” Gehlot said.
Speaking before him, leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said the BJP never attempted to dislodge the government. “All this was because of internal bickering in the Congress,” he said.
Proceedings in the House began at 11am and the session was adjourned till 1pm after obituary references. The debate on the motion began after the House reconvened and the floor test was held at 4:05pm. The House was then adjourned and it will reconvene next Friday.
The Rajasthan crisis appeared to have ended after a meeting between Pilot and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday.
Later that night, the party announced the setting up of the panel to look into issues raised by the 42-year-old Pilot and the 18 rebel legislators, who questioned Gehlot’s style of functioning and alleged that Pilot was being sidelined.
With the return of the rebels, the Congress alone has 107 legislators, including speaker CP Joshi, in the 200-member House where the majority mark is 101. It also appears to have the support of all 13 independents; three of them backed Pilot and have now pledged support to Gehlot. Five MLAS from other parties, too, back the government in the House. On the other hand, the BJP (72) and its ally Rashtriya Loktrantrik Party (3) have a total of 75 seats.
Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma said the government was in a comfortable position all along, but the opposition tried to mislead the people. “Once again it has been proved that CM Gehlot enjoys the trust of the House,” she said.
But BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said the truce between Gehlot and Pilot will not last long. “Their dispute will remain till the time the issue of the CM’S post is resolved by the Congress leadership...,” Pareek said, referring to the demand by Pilot’s supporters in the past that he be made the chief minister.
Political analyst Narayan Bareth said it was Gehlot who emerged as a winner on all fronts in the end. “It will increase the stature of Gehlot within the party and outside. He handled the crisis in an effective way.”