A day after being sacked as deputy chief minister, Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that he is "not" joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Pilot also asserted that he had worked hard to defeat the saffron party and bring the Congress back to power in Rajasthan.
The comments came a day after he was sacked as Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee chief by the party. The decision to sack Pilot was taken yesterday after a CLP meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur, Rajasthan. At the meeting, as many as 102 MLAs unanimously demanded that Pilot should be removed from the party.
The Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil over the past few days. While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the state government by poaching MLAs, Pilot has been camping in Delhi. A controversy broke out in Rajasthan after Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Pilot to record his statement in the case registered by SOG in the alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the State.
Let us take a look at what Sachin Pilot said:
"I am not joining the BJP. I would like to make it clear that I have no plans to join the BJP. The BJP link is an attempt to malign me in the eyes of the Gandhis," Sachin Pilot told NDTV.
He also told NDTV he is "still a member of the Congress party."
Pilot told PTI that some leaders in Rajasthan were trying to fuel speculation that he is joining the BJP. "Such a speculation is being fuelled to tarnish my image," he said.
Sachin Pilot also denied colluding with the BJP to conspire against the Congress.
I have worked very hard to bring Congress back in government in Rajasthan, Pilot said.
