Congress results will be astonishing: Sachin Pilot (Interview) (Election Special)

Sachin Pilot, a union minister who is an MBA from Wharton and switched to politics from a high-paying corporate job, is travelling from village to village in the searing heat and dust of Rajasthan in a bid to retain this Ajmer Lok Sabha seat and assures Congress "results will astonish political analysts".

Pilot, a tall and amiable 36-year old who is far removed from the stereotyped Indian politician, is the state Congress president. During his campaign, he doesn't talk much of his opponents; instead he seeks votes on the basis of development. The minister of state for corporate affairs, who was previously the information, communication and technology minister, said the Congress will certainly repeat the same tally which it recorded in the last Lok Sabha polls.

He is facing a challenge to retain his seat from Ajmer where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Sanwar Lal Jat, a minister in the Vasundhara Raje government.

"I am confident that the Congress will perform better in the Lok Sabha elections. It is early to state any number, but the results will astonish political analysts and they will understand that voters of Rajasthan understand the importance of development," Pilot told IANS.

The Congress had won 20 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 polls while the BJP had won in four constituencies and on one seat an independent candidate was declared the winner of one seat.

Sachin Pilot is son of Rajesh Pilot, a former union minister, who represented Bharatpur in the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1980, and later shifted to Dausa. Rajesh Pilot died in a road accident near Bhandana in Dausa district in 2000 following which Sachin joined politics, leaving his executive job with General Motors, the US multinational.

Sachin's style is quite similar to his father's. Pilot is charm personified in the hustle-bustle of the campaign. He knows party workers by name and freely interacts with them.

"Party workers are enthusiastic," he said.

Denying factionalism in the party, Pilot said all the party workers are working to see the Congress performs better in the polls.

"There are no real differences in the party," he said.

He said that party is getting support from seniors and they are sharing their experience in these elections.

Pilot said: "The Ashok Gehlot government had performed well. The government had launched various social welfare schemes, but it seems that the problem was that it lacked in spreading the message."

He pointed out that the UPA gave stability and secure governance to people and worked for the poor people in the country.

Moreover, he said, the UPA government has performed much better than the NDA government in every sphere, including infrastructure development.

"We are back to people assuring them the same in future," said Pilot.

He added that in the Lok Sabha election, people will realize the mistake which they made in the assembly elections and will certainly come out to vote for the Congress.

In the assembly polls, the Congress suffered one of its worst defeats and was able to win in only 21 of the 200 constituencies. The BJP won 163 seats.

(Anil Sharma can be contacted anil.s@ians.in)