Sachin Pilot's fast is 'anti-party activity': Congress
Jaipur/IBNS: The Congress has warned its Rajasthan leader Sachin Pilot against going on fast on Tuesday and called the move an "anti-party activity".
Pilot has demanded that the Ashok Gehlot government should act against the alleged corruption of the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Vasundhara Raje.
The Gehlot government has denied Pilot's allegations of inaction, leading to a public spectacle of the ruling Congress just months away from the assembly election.
"Sachin Pilot's day-long fast tomorrow is against the party interests and is anti-party activity. If there is any issue with his own government, it can be discussed in the party forums instead of in the media and public," the Congress's Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said in a statement on Monday.
This is being seen as a final effort to de-escalate the friction between Pilot, who has been eyeing the Chief Minister's post for a long time, and Gehlot, the current Chief Minister.
Pilot said that it was necessary to assure people that the Congress government was acting on its statements and promises made before the 2018 assembly elections.
He said that the government had failed to take action against the excise mafia, illegal mining, land encroachment and the Lalit Modi affidavit case.
Pilot had even played old videos of Gehlot accusing Raje of corruption and misrule asking why he had not initiated any investigation or inquiry into these matters.
He said that the Congress government had evidence against the former BJP government but had not acted on it.
"We cannot go into the elections with these promises unfulfilled. We have evidence. We should have acted. We should investigate. We are going into elections. There will be Model Code of Conduct soon. We are answerable to the people," Pilot had said.