3 min readJaipurApr 27, 2026 08:08 PM IST
First published on: Apr 27, 2026 at 06:45 PM IST
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said that he hopes that former deputy CM Sachin Pilot never leaves the Congress party, adding that Pilot realised the consequences of his earlier “mistake”. Gehlot, whose comments come just days after Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha announced a split from the Aam Aadmi Party along with six other MPs, was responding to a statement by the BJP state in charge, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, who said on Monday that Pilot’s one leg is in Congress and the other is elsewhere.
“Both his legs are in Congress and will remain in Congress. Now, those who strayed and misled and took our people to Manesar, they will come back,” Gehlot said.
“Sachin Pilot ji has experienced what the consequences are of making this kind of mistake. Now he has understood and has become cautious, and I hope that now he will never leave us, and our entire party is united with him,” Gehlot said.
In 2020, the leak of three audio clips allegedly involving one Gajendra Singh – alleged to be the union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat – a middleman Sanjay Jain, and then Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma and minister Vishvendra Singh had led to a political crisis in Rajasthan. In the tapes, they were allegedly heard devising a plan to topple the Gehlot government. Subsequently, then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot led an unsuccessful rebellion of 19 Congress MLAs while being sequestered in Haryana’s Manesar for a while.
Gehlot’s remarks came on a day that BJP national president Nitin Nabin made his first visit to the state as the party’s national president. After arriving in Jaipur, Nabin reached Tonk, where he inaugurated the party’s district office, while virtually inaugurating the party’s six other district offices in Bundi, Pratapgarh, Dungarpur, Churu, Pali and Barmer.
In his address on the occasion, Agrawal accused Pilot of being a “behrupiya” (imposter) and painted him as an outsider, saying, “It is surprising. He is not even a resident of Tonk, and let alone Tonk, he is not even a resident of your state, Rajasthan. Do you even know this?” He added that Pilot originally hails from Uttar Pradesh.
Questioning Pilot’s loyalty to the party, the party’s CM, and party workers, Agrawal said, “Ek tang Congress mein rehti aur ek tang pata nahi kahan aur rehti hai (One leg remains in Congress and the other leg remains somewhere else),” Agrawal said.
He said that Tonk is a BJP stronghold and hence the party’s national president decided to come to Tonk and that the BJP candidate would be elected in the next Assembly elections. Currently, out of the district’s four Assembly seats, only Tonk is held by Congress while the other three – Deoli Uniara, Malpura and Niwai (SC) – are held by the BJP.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (left) said Sachin Pilot 'had experienced what the consequences are of making this kind of mistake'. (Express File Photo) 
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