Will Sachin Pilot go Captain Amarinder way?

New Delhi: A media report last week suggested that former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot has hired political strategist Prashant Kishor's I-PAC as part of the preparations to launch his own political party.  

The report came soon after Pilot and his bete noire Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had a four-hour-long meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on May 29 after which party general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal announced that both will fight the upcoming assembly elections as a team. 

Also read: Why won't Gehlot agree to any truce formula with Pilot?

Flanked by Gehlot on one side and Pilot on the other, Venugopal claimed that the Congress will win the assembly elections, due in November-December this year. 

However, the May 29 photo-op like the previous ones turned out to be a damp squib as Gehlot the very next day insisted that patience is key to position in the Congress party. 

He recalled former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s remark at a national convention that “one who keeps patience gets a chance someday” to give a veiled message to Pilot to have patience till his time comes. 

But Pilot is a man in a hurry. He wants the Congress high command to either declare him the chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming elections or hand over the reins of the party once again to him ahead of the polls.  

Both the demands are not acceptable to Gehlot. Newdsrum had carried an article before the May 29 meeting that Gehlot will not agree to any truce with Pilot in view of the former deputy chief minister’s failed coup against his own government in July 2020.

Gehlot is opposed to any move to name Pilot, a Gujjar, the state unit chief in place of Govind Singh Dotasara, a Jat, at this juncture, arguing that it will go against the Congress as the community is likely to support the grand old party in the upcoming elections. 

With around 9% population, Jats form the biggest caste group in Rajasthan, dominating the Marwar and Shekhawati regions. They influence the outcome in about 30-35 constituencies in the desert state.  

On the other hand, Gujjars account for 7-8% of the state’s estimated 81.02 million population. They are also influential in about 30 of the total 200 constituencies spread across the eastern belt of the state. 

Gujjars and Meenas, who also constitute around 7% population, are traditional rivals and don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues. Both rarely come together to vote for a single party in any election except 2018 when Gujjars, otherwise strong BJP supporters, voted for the Congress hoping to see Pilot as the chief minister.  

But Gujjars alone can’t ensure the coveted post for Pilot. He must take the other communities along if he decides to form his own political party. Otherwise, he will end up as another Captain Amarinder Singh, who after being removed as Punjab’s chief minister in September 2021, quit the Congress to form his own outfit, Punjab Lok Congress.  

The party contested the elections in alliance with the BJP and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyuk). However, none of its 37 candidates could register a win, with Amarinder himself losing his home turf Patiala Urban to an AAP candidate. In September 2022, Amarinder finally merged his party into the BJP. 

Will Pilot follow Amarinder’s path? Only time will tell. For the time being, all eyes are on him as he is set to make a big announcement at a rally in Dausa on June 11, the 23rd death anniversary of his father Rajesh Pilot.