Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot yesterday announced they will contest the December 7 state assembly elections but avoided answering questions on who will be the chief ministerial face.
Confirming their candidature at a joint press conference, Pilot exuded confidence about dethroning Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan.
“I and Gehlot will both contest the assembly polls and Congress will come to power”, Pilot said, but refused to say who will be the chief minister if the Congress came to power.
Pilot, a minister in former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s government, also rubbished reports of any friction with Gehlot.
“The infighting is within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and many leaders disgruntled over ticket distribution as well as the functioning of the Raje government are queuing up to join the Congress,” said Pilot who represented Ajmer constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha.
There has been speculation about who among the two would contest the polls.
With both of them perceived as chief minister hopefuls, the party reportedly wanted to field only one of them to avoid a potential tussle.
Gehlot, who has been the chief minister twice and is now the party’s national general secretary, also remained tight-lipped on the issue of the chief minister face.
“Since Independence, it has been the tradition of Congress Party not to name the CM face in states. We are proudly carrying forward that legacy,” said Gehlot.
Gehlot is likely to contest from Sardarpura constituency in Jodhpur which he represents in the current assembly.
Pilot may be fielded from any of the seats in Ajmer, his old parliamentary constituency or Dausa which thrice elected his father and late former federal minister Rajesh Pilot, and once his mother Rama Pilot in 1999.
The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, where the BJP is in power, goes to the polls on December 7.
The results will be announced on December 11.
Meanwhile the BJP yesterday suffered a jolt in Rajasthan as one of its MPs and a state legislator joined the Congress.
Harish Meena, the MP from Dausa who is a former Rajasthan director general of police, was formally inducted into the party in the presence of Pilot and Gehlot.
Habibur Rehman, a BJP legislator from Nagaur, switched sides at the state Congress committee office in Jaipur.
Rehman joined the party in the presence of Ajmer MP Raghu Sharma.
Meena had won the Dausa seat in 2014 as a BJP nominee defeating his brother and Congress candidate Namo Narain Meena.
Observing that people were unhappy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government not fulfilling its promises, Meena described joining Congress as his “homecoming”.
After welcoming Rehman into the Congress, Sharma said the BJP workers were feeling suffocated and hence joining Congress to breathe easy.
Rehman said he has joined the Congress without setting any conditions and would work for strengthening the party.
“I have been connected with Congress since 1959 when my father was ‘sarpanch’ and he won the assembly elections in 1962. I am happy to be back in my family,” he added.
Rehman has been a minister in Rajasthan cabinet earlier during Congress government.
However, in 2008, he was denied a ticket by the Congress and eventually joined the BJP.
Thereafter, he contested the 2008 and 2013 elections as a BJP candidate and emerged winner in both times.
However, on Sunday, when his name did not appear in the BJP’s list of candidates, he sent his resignation to state party president Madanlal Saini.
The BJP has given his ticket to Mohan Ram Choudhary from Nagaur.
Earlier another Rajasthan BJP legislator Manvendra Singh, the son of BJP veteran and former federal minister Jaswant Singh, joined the Congress in October.
Rajasthan legislator Habibur Rehman joins the Congress in the presence of Ajmer MP Raghu Sharma after quitting from the BJP in Jaipur yesterday.
