‘I will be the shield, club, and spear’
PILOT IN ASSEMBLY
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 Conment gress 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.