BJP’s graph diving, INDIA bloc to form govts in Maharashtra, Jharkhand: Sachin Pilot

Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday claimed that BJP’s favourability is declining as people are fed up with its “policies” and “misuse of agencies”, and predicted the victory of INDIA bloc in Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls.

“BJP’s graph in the entire country is declining and the INDIA grouping will win the upcoming elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. I have been to Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) and there is a one-sided wave prevailing in that state,” Pilot told reporters at the residence of Madhya Pradesh Congress President Jitu Patwari.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha was also present.

Pilot arrived here to campaign for Congress in the November 13 bypoll in Vijaypur assembly constituency in Sheopur district, bordering Rajasthan.

The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister accused BJP leaders of using low-level language during polls, referring to comments like “snatching mangal sutra” and “taking away your buffaloes” during the Lok Sabha elections and the recent “batenge toh katenge” (if divided, we will be finished) by Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Aditya Nath.

The Congress is focussed on giving slogans with positivity like ‘padhenge toh badhenge’ (if we study, we will progress), he said.

“This type of culture should be promoted. People in the country are now fed up with the BJP over misuse of power and central agencies, and polarisation,” he said.

Pilot also slammed the BJP over the arrest of two CMs – Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren and Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal – and accused it of exploiting central agencies for political gains.

He said that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, current party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are working towards strengthening the country and the results of the bypolls in MP will leave their mark in the 2028 assembly elections.

Besides Vijaypur, a bypoll will also be held on November 13 in the Budhni constituency, earlier represented by former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Votes will be counted on November 23.

The results of the bypolls in various states, including Wayanad from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is contesting her maiden Lok Sabha polls, and the assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra will be satisfying for the Congress and the outcomes will have a direct impact on future elections, said Pilot.

In Vijaypur, the Congress has fielded senior tribal leader Mukesh Malhotra. The bypoll was necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat joined the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. He is contesting the bypoll on a BJP ticket.

Rawat had won from Vijaypur six times as a Congress candidate in 1990, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2023.

Responding to a question about BJP’s allegation that Congress and other parties encouraged infiltration in Jharkhand in a planned manner, Pilot asked, “Who is responsible for protecting the country's borders? They are levelling allegations by shirking away their own responsibilities.” He alleged that the BJP raises issues like ‘one election, one nation’, cows and Gods before elections just for votes and never talks about its performance in the areas of industrialisation, jobs, roads and water.

Asked about the culture of freebies and former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's popular scheme ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’, Pilot asked if the scheme was so good then why Chavan was removed as the CM.

On the one hand, Pilot said, BJP describes freebies as ‘revdi” and on the other, it wants to take credit for providing free ration to 80 crore people in the country.

“If Congress and other parties want to help the deprived sections of society then it is termed ‘revdiyan’ despite the fact that when they do such things they call themselves ‘annadata’ and ‘daandata’,” he quipped.

Pilot said that though there is a double-engine government (same party at the state and Centre), unemployment is still rising in MP and farmers are dying by suicide. “Who will stop it,” he asked.

Answering a question about Jammu and Kashmir, he said that the state should get full statehood and added that the elections were held there on the directives of the Supreme Court and not by the BJP-led government at the Centre.