'Rajesh Pilot had once challenged this family': PM Modi accuses Congress of victimising Sachin Pilot

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of punishing Sachin Pilot because his father Rajesh Pilot had revolted against the party high command in 1996. "You know the history of Congress. Whoever says anything in front of the Congress family is as good as finished. Rajesh Pilot ji had once challenged this Congress family for the betterment of the party, but this family is such that after punishing Rajesh ji, they are bent upon punishing his son also," PM Modi said at a rally in Rajasthan.
Late Rajesh Pilot was one of the few within the Congress who had argued against putting forth Sonia Gandhi as the party's prime ministerial candidate.In 1996, Narasimha Rao resigned from the post of Congress president and made way for Sitaram Kesri, who had previously served as the party's treasurer for nearly two decades. Veterans Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot contested against the official nominee Kesri and lost.
The differences between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot have been out in the open for long. In 2020, Sachin had led an unsuccessful revolt against Gehlot and since then the two leaders have been bitter rivals within the party often targeting each other openly. However, ahead of the crucial assembly elections in the state, the Congress has managed to broker peace between the two leaders.
This is not the first time that PM Modi has attacked the Congress in Rajasthan over the differences between the two leaders. Last week, he took a swipe at the Congress and said the two are only pretending to join hands for elections and there has been no reconciliation despite a hundred handshakes.
"Delhi Darbar was been busy trying to loot the chair of its own CM and the CM has been busy in dealing with them. These people had left the people of Rajasthan to fend for themselves," Modi had said at a rally in Nagaur.
"Now when the time of elections has come, these people are reluctantly getting themselves photographed together... Big leaders from Delhi come here and make the chief minister and another leader who wants to become the chief minister shake hands in front of the camera.
"A century of handshakes in five years, but there is no reconciliation. These people are pretending to join hands but there is bitterness in their hearts," Modi had said.
Sachin Pilot has openly said that he is ready to let bygones be bygones. When asked about the stinging remarks made by Gehlot, Sachin Pilot had said that he was working in Rajasthan with the mantra of "forgive, forget and move on" as advised by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former AICC president Rahul Gandhi.
Congress hits back
Hours after PM Modi's remarks, Sachin Pilot responded by saying that there was no need for anyone other than the party and the people to worry about him.
Pilot said his father was a dedicated Congressman throughout his life and the prime minister's statements were far from fact and aimed at diverting people's attention
"My late father contested the election for Congress president's post along with Sharad Pawar against Sitaram Kesri in 1998. At that time, Sonia Gandhi was not in active politics. Kesri won that election and subsequently nominated both Pawar and my father to the working committee. That is the way a healthy democratic organisation and political party should function," Sachin Pilot told PTI.
"As far as I am concerned, I was given an opportunity to become a member of Parliament at a very young age and I have held many responsibilities at the Central government and the state level for many years," said Pilot, who is contesting the assembly election from Tonk.
Other Congress leaders also slammed PM Modi for his remarks and accused him of "unleashing another pack of lies".
Party pokesperson and chairman of the media department Pawan Khera said, "The prime minister's lies stand exposed today in Bhilwara. Today, Narendra Modi while continuing the 'Pradhan Mantri Jhooth Bolo scheme' in a fit of panic unleashed another pack of lies.
Khera said that the late Rajesh Pilot was inspired by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and left his job in the Indian Air Force to enter politics.
"He was not only a senior leader of the Congress, he always fought against the communal forces in this country. Late Pilot ji contested the election of Congress President against late Sitaram Kesari under the democratic traditions of Congress.
"The Prime Minister, due to his incomplete knowledge, forgot that at that time Sonia Gandhi was not in active politics. Nor was any other member of the Gandhi family in politics at that time," the Congress leader said.
(With inputs from agencies)