BJP's Radha Agarwal questions Pilot's loyalty towards Cong, Gehlot responds

BJP Rajasthan in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal targeted Congress leader and Tonk MLA Sachin Pilot on Monday, questioning his political loyalty and claiming, ''he keeps one foot in the party while the other rests somewhere else.'' In response to Agarwal's remarks, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot asserted that both of Pilot's feet are firmly planted in the Congress party, and will remain there. Pilot, who served as deputy chief minister in Gehlot's previous Congress government, had rebelled against Gehlot's leadership in 2021, along with 18 other Congress MLAs. The rebellion led to a political crisis in the state, which was resolved through the intervention of party leadership. Gehlot had alleged that it was a conspiracy orchestrated by the BJP to topple his government, using Pilot and other MLAs as pawns. Speaking to reporters here after arriving in Kolkata, Gehlot mentioned that Pilot has learned the consequences of past mistakes and expressed confidence that the entire party supports him. ''He has realised what the consequences of making such mistakes are. He has now understood and corrected himself. I hope he will never leave us again, and the entire party stands united with him,'' he said. During a programme in Tonk on Monday, Agarwal referred to Pilot as an ''imposter,'' without naming him, and noted that the Tonk assembly constituency has a history of electing BJP legislators. However, he alleged that the current representative is a ''non-local.'' ''In Tonk, it has been a long-standing tradition that the MLA belongs to the BJP. Today, an imposter has become the MLA of Tonk. Surprisingly, he is neither a resident of Tonk nor of Rajasthan,'' he said. Agarwal compared himself to Pilot, saying, ''I, too, hail from Uttar Pradesh and serve as the in-charge for Rajasthan; however, I would never dream of becoming an MLA here. I am not a fugitive from Uttar Pradesh and can conduct my politics from there. What kind of precedent has been established here? You accept anyone sent from any state and garland them.'' He further questioned Pilot's allegiance, asking, ''To whom does he owe his loyalty? Not to his party, not to his chief minister, and not to his party workers. I fail to understand how you allowed him to become an MLA. ''He keeps one foot in the Congress party, and the other rests somewhere else. That is why our party president said that we will go to Tonk and we will tell our party workers, with a sense of challenge, that in the next assembly elections, the BJP candidate will emerge victorious from Tonk,'' he said.

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