Sachin Pilot: Wave of change across India; Cong, allies to do well

Sachin Pilot

Hyderabad: The Congress would do extremely well in the coming Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where the party came to power after the Assembly elections last year, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said on Monday.

He claimed that people tend to back the party they voted during Assembly polls, at least in northern states. "I think there is a wave of change all across the country," Pilot told a press conference here, exuding confidence that the Congress and its allies would do extremely well across the country and UPA-III will form the government. The Rajasthan Congress chief said the party is going ahead with 'Mission-25' in to win all 25 Lok Sabha seats in his state.

The BJP had won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan in the 2014 elections. However, the Congress won bypolls in two constituencies last year, reducing the BJP's strength to 23. Going by the way the BJP went ahead with seat adjustments with its allies in Bihar and Maharashtra it means that the Amit Shah-led party is not confident of performing well on its own, according to him.

On whether the Congress was open to post-poll alliance with the BSP-SP, which are fighting the polls together in Uttar Pradesh, Pilot said the Congress respects the (BSP-SP) alliance and the collective objective of all political parties is to see that BJP does not come to power again. "After elections the equations will change...it (post-poll pact) is too early to say what will happen," he
said.

In Telangana the TRS government is to doing all that it can to buy legislators, to pressurise law-makers and to create an environment of fear which is "almost exactly" like Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing in rest of India by using agencies to "quieten the voices" of anybody who questions the BJP, he alleged.

"The moment you ask a question to BJP or Prime Minister you are called anti-national," Pilot said. The Congress party can bring about clean politics in Telangana, he said. "People of Telangana voting to KCR (TRS chief and state Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao)...they are automatically helping the BJP. Everybody understands the behind the game manoeuvre of these two parties--BJP and TRS."

Congress party's 'Nyay' minimum income guarantee scheme, is not a 'jumla' like the Rs 15 lakh promise given by Modi before the last Lok Sabha elections, Pilot said.

"In the Congress manifesto, we are not talking about Mandir or Masjid. We are talking about how we can help the 20 per cent of the poorest people in the country who will get Rs 72,000 every year which is not a 'jumla' like Modi said of giving Rs 15 lakh," he said.

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