In his first comments after his party's loss in the Rajasthan Assembly election, Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot Monday said that there is a need for contemplation and introspection on the party’s defeat. He also termed the comments by outgoing CM Ashok Gehlot’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma as “surprising”. “We worked hard to break the tradition (of no second consecutive term) and could not be successful despite trying our hardest. It is certainly a matter of concern. Every time after forming a government (in Rajasthan) we are unable to repeat it and the same thing happened this time too,” Pilot said in Tonk. With Gehlot as CM, the Congress could not repeat its government in 2003, 2013 and now 2023. “Repeating the government was the aim of all of us. And we should honestly introspect over this, and we will have to. We will have to find out the reasons why we could not be successful and act on them,” he said, calling for “chintan (contemplation) and atmachintan (introspection) at every level, where we lacked, what were the reasons due to which we could not form a government again”. “All of us wanted the Congress party to return but we could not form the government due to various reasons,” he said. On Sharma’s statements, Pilot said: “I saw the statement which he has given, it is very surprising. Because it’s a statement by the CM’s OSD himself, it’s a matter of concern. I am hopeful that the party will pay attention to why this was said, what’s the truth or the lie.” After the party's loss, Sharma had launched a scathing attack on Gehlot, squarely blaming him for the defeat in the Assembly polls and said that his experience, magic and schemes could not bring the Congress back to power in the state. Sharma had said that Gehlot “cheated the high command, didn’t allow correct feedback to reach the top, ignored all feedback and surveys and insisted on getting tickets for his favourite candidates despite their clear defeat”. On whether the party could have won with new faces, Pilot said that it is a matter of analysis and whatever he has to say on the party’s performance he will keep before the party internally at the right time. He also said that the party will need to sort things out quickly since the Lok Sabha polls are not very far away and the party will again have to go to the people. Meanwhile, state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra has called a Congress Legislature Party meeting on Tuesday.
