Dharna by Pilot would amount to anti-party activity, says Congress

Taking strong objection to the proposed dharna by former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, the Congress said any such protest against its sitting govt would amount to anti-party activity.

Taking strong objection to the proposed dharna by former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, the Congress on Monday evening said any such protest against its sitting government would amount to anti-party activity.

Pilot on Sunday alleged that the Ashok Gehlot-led government failed to investigate cases of alleged corruption during the BJP rule in Rajasthan and announced plans to hold a day-long fast on Tuesday to press for action.

Sukhjinder Randhawa, the Congress general secretary in-charge for Rajasthan, said he talked to Pilot during the day and told him to raise issues at party platforms instead of going public against its own government.

"I personally called Sachin Pilot and asked him to raise such matters at party platforms instead of going public like this," he told PTI when asked if he had discussed Pilot's proposed fast with him.

Randhawa said any such action or fast is not justified and all matters should be raised within the party platforms and not publicly like this.

"Any such action would amount to anti-party activity," he said.

Randhawa said the two letters Pilot was referring to for action against graft by the previous Vasundhara Raje government have never been raised before him despite several talks and discussions.

Sources close to Pilot said he will go ahead with his day-long fast on Tuesday to press for his demand for action against corruption during the previous BJP regime in Rajasthan and added that his fight is against graft under the Raje dispensation and not targeted at anyone else.

Pilot has said he will observe the fast at Jaipur's Shaheed Smarak on April 11 -- the birth anniversary of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, who was from the Saini community to which Gehlot belongs.

Sources said Pilot claimed that he would sit on a "maun vrat" and not speak against the government.

The sources close to the former Rajasthan deputy chief minister also said that while Rahul Gandhi was fighting Adani over alleged corruption, Pilot was taking up the issue to hold the previous Raje dispensation accountable.

The Congress has been strongly raising its voice against corruption in the country, be it on the Adani matter or by the Karnataka government. If action is not taken against those responsible for graft under the Raje government, then why would people take us seriously, a source close to Pilot said.