Pilot threatens agitation if action not taken on his demands by month-end

Jaipur: Flanked by 15 Congress MLAs at a rally here on Monday, dissident leader Sachin Pilot on Monday served notice to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot agree to their demands by the month-end or face a state-wide agitation.

The intensification of the power tussle between Gehlot-Pilot tussle in Rajasthan Congress came on a day when the party’s central leadership struggled to pick between two CM contenders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar in Karnataka after winning the assembly polls there.

The public meeting marked the completion of Pilot’s five-day foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur over “inaction” by the Gehlot government on “corruption” during the previous BJP term in the state.

Apart from a call for a high-level probe into corruption, Pilot spelled out two other demands disbanding the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and its reconstitution, and compensation for those affected by the cancellation of government recruitment exams after paper leaks.

“If action is not taken by this month-end on these three demands, an agitation will be launched across the state,” Pilot said. The former deputy CM also referred to the one-day fast he held last month. “So far, I have done anshan’ and taken out a yatra’. If action is not taken in the interest of the youth on these three demands, I will launch an agitation in the entire state,” he said.

“We will walk on foot with people in villages and hamlets, and get them justice,” he added.

Pilot said he would not be cowed down.