Delhi Confidential: Sachin Pilot’s show of strength ahead of Rajasthan polls

Sachin Pilot's rallies will be keenly watched by the Ashok Gehlot camp as well as the Congress party high command in Delhi.

Sachin Pilot

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Rallying point

The followers of Sachin Pilot had been demanding a leadership change in Rajasthan for some time. The Congress high command, however, is showing no signs of urgency to resolve the organisational issues in the state. With Assembly elections just ten months away, Pilot has begun an exercise to show his strength. He addressed a well-attended public meeting in Nagaur — a Jat-concentrated region — on Monday. He is set to address four more rallies this week — in Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, Pali and in Jaipur. Pilot believes Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was a major success in Rajasthan and the Congress should hit the ground running to keep the momentum going till the Assembly elections. His rallies, however, will be keenly watched by the Ashok Gehlot camp as well as those sitting in Delhi.

Zero To Hero

Since he demitted office as a Union cabinet minister, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has primarily been engaged in party work, particularly in the Muslim-dominated areas of Uttar Pradesh. In a break from his usual engagements on Sunday, the former Minority Affairs minister appeared as a chief guest at the closing ceremony of the Delhi Mudra Ustav, organised by the Delhi Coin Society. At the ceremony, Naqvi spun BJP rhetoric around coins and cash, telling the gathering that India which discovered numeral “zero” has become a “global hero” under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.