Challenges galore as Pilot to contest Rajasthan polls
New Delhi: Ending the speculations, the Congress has decided to field Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot, the top two leaders of the party in Rajasthan, in the December 7 assembly election.
Though the move is seen as an attempt to tackle a much-reported rift between its two top leaders in the state as both are chief ministerial aspirants, the experts have opined that the contesting an assembly election would not be an easy nut to crack for Pilot, who is the president of Rajasthan Congress Committee.
Notably, Pilot had never contested any assembly election and represented Ajmer parliamentary constituency seat in the 15th Lok Sabha. He failed to retain his seat in 2014 and was defeated by BJP's candidate late Sanwar Lal Jat with a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes.
The fortune turned in favour of Pilot in 2018 as Congress candidate Raghu Sharma won Ajmer Lok Sabha seat by defeating BJP's Ram Swaroop Lamba (son of late Sanwar Lal Jat), during the by-poll which was held in January 2018.
Even though Pilot is a 'big name' in Rajasthan, according to experts, the major challenge for him would be the selection of an assembly seat. "The most suitable seat for him would be Masuda under the Ajmer parliamentary constituency as it's a 'caste-neutral' seat. If Pilot contests from Masuda seat, he wouldn't get the tag of a leader of Gujjars," said Nand Kishore Gujjar, who heads Dev Sena.
"The other seat that he can consider to debut in the assembly election is Nasirabad. It's a traditional seat of Congress and has sizeable Gujjar voters," he said. The BJP's candidate from Nasirabad seat is Ram Swaroop Lamba, the son of late MP Sanwar Lal Jat. "I and Sachin Pilot will both fight the Rajasthan assembly elections," Ashok Gehlot, a former chief minister, told reporters in Delhi, Sachin Pilot by his side. Pilot also said, "On Congress president Rahul Gandhi's instruction and on Gehlotji's request, I have decided to contest the assembly polls."
The party is, however, yet to announce from where the two leaders would contest the polls. Gehlot is presently MLA from Jodhpur's Sardarpura constituency and is likely to be repeated from there only.
