Jaipur: Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday strongly responded to remarks made by BJP state in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, who had described Tonk MLA Sachin Pilot as an “imposter” and questioned his political allegiance.
Addressing the media, Gehlot dismissed the claims and asserted that Pilot remains firmly committed to the Congress.
“Both of his legs are firmly planted in the Congress, and they will remain there,” Gehlot said, countering Agarwal’s remark that Pilot had one leg in the party and the other elsewhere.
“Those who had strayed will now return — the same people who once misled our members and took them away to Manesar,” Gehlot said, recalling the events that unfolded during the political crisis in 2020. The veteran Congress leader also asserted that Pilot had drawn lessons from that episode. “Sachin Pilot ji has now understood, through experience, the consequences of such a mistake. He has gained clarity and steadied himself,” he said.
Reiterating unity within the Congress, the former Rajasthan Chief Minister expressed confidence in Sachin Pilot’s future within the party.
“I am confident he will never leave us again, and the entire party stands united with him,” Gehlot said.
Earlier, a political controversy erupted in Rajasthan after Agarwal launched a scathing attack on Pilot, triggering a fresh war of words between the BJP and Congress.
Addressing a public gathering in Tonk, Agarwal questioned Pilot’s political and regional identity, remarking: “We used to have our own MLA in Tonk. Today, however, an imposter has become the MLA of Tonk. He is neither a resident of your Tonk nor does he belong to Rajasthan.”
Escalating his attack, the BJP leader added: “I wouldn’t even dream of becoming an MLA in Rajasthan. I am not a ‘fugitive’ from UP; I am a strong politician rooted in that state. What kind of custom have you established here, where if someone sends a man from another state, you simply garland him and accept him?”
In a further swipe, Agarwal questioned Pilot’s political allegiance, stating: “By forming a specific faction, they have effectively cast you aside. Who knows under what influence — or what spell — you ended up electing him as your MLA? One of his legs remains in the Congress party, while the other… who knows where it is?”
(IANS)
