'Let bygones be bygones': Sachin Pilot ready to forgive and forget Ashok Gehlot's past swipes at him

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who had a running feud with chief minister Ashok Gehlot for nearly three years, is ready to "let bygones be bygones" - much to the relief of the grand old party in the poll-bound state. The former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan on Tuesday said he was working in the state with the mantra of "forgive, forget and move on" as advised by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former AICC president Rahul Gandhi.

When the differences between the two top leaders of Rajasthan was at its peak, Ashok Gehlot used barbs such as ‘nikamma' directed at Pilot. The chief minister then also called Pilot a traitor. When asked about these remarks, Pilot said, "Leave it! Who said what … I can be responsible for what I have said or not said. We should maintain dignity in political discussions."

"Whoever said all those words you mentioned, I did not respond in kind because it is not the way I am built and we now have to move on, let bygones be bygones, whatever was said, we need to forget and move forward. It is not about individuals or positions or someone's statements now. It is about the country and the party," Pilot told news agency PTI.

'Ticket distribution very fair'

Sachin Pilot expressed satisfaction at the ticket distribution for the assembly elections and called it "by and large very fair."

"Ultimately, the party can give a ticket only to one individual. So after a lot of feedback, surveys, opinion of leaders, we gave tickets on winnability. It is not possible to satisfy everybody. By and large the distribution of ticket is very fair," he told news agency PTI.

"I have always wanted more younger people to get opportunities to fight elections and a lot of younger people have been given a chance this time. Overall there are a lot more pulls and pressures and infighting after the announcement of the BJP lists," Pilot said.

'Issues raised in 2020 were important'

Asked about the rebellion he led against the government led by chief minister Ashok Gehlot in 2020 and the events of September last year when Gehlot loyalist did not allow a legislature party meeting to take place, Pilot said the issues that he raised in 2020 were important for the party and people.

"There was a time when the Rajasthan government did not have a Dalit minister, today we have four Dalit ministers, workers who struggled against five years of Vasundhara Raje government, went to jail, faced lathi charges, those people should be rewarded, not by giving power and positions but by appreciating them, involving them in decision making, they becoming stakeholders in the government of the day. So that has happened now," he told PTI.

The AICC at that point had made a committee to look into all the issues that were raised and "I am happy that we moved forward", Pilot said.

'Who gets what position in party ... '

The Congress leader evaded a direct reply on the impact that his 2020 rebellion would have on the chances of him becoming the CM in future. "I don't think it is a question of my chance, your chance or his chance. Right now we have to make sure the Congress party wins," Pilot said.

"Who gets what position is not decided by an individual. The longstanding tradition in the Congress party is that you fight elections, get a mandate, once you cross the majority mark, the MLAs and the leadership in Delhi will decide who will get what responsibility. In 2018, exactly same thing happened, I was the party president when we got the majority, we passed a one-line resolution authorising the party president to decide who will lead the government and I think, this time is no different,” he asserted.

Not just in Rajasthan, this is the case in every state that goes to polls, he added.

What happens in future no one knows but right now our priority is and should be that the Congress party gets the mandate from the voters, Pilot said.

The Congress in Rajasthan had to face embarrassment in the run up to the assembly elections as the two top leaders openly targeted each other after Sachin Pilot's revolt against Ashok Gehlot. Pilot failed to unseat Gehlot and lost his position of deputy chief minister and state Congress chief. However, the Congress managed to convince him to stay in the party. Several attempts to broker peace between the two leaders failed and at one stage Pilot sat on protest against his own government.

However, while Pilot relented, the BJP was quick to use the issues raised by him to target the Ashok Gehlot government in the state.

(With inputs from PTI)

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