Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday distanced himself from the threat by a prominent Gurjar outfit to disrupt the Bharat Jodo Yatra if its demand to make him the Rajasthan chief minister is not accepted, and instead blamed the BJP for trying to create “disturbances”. Gurjar Arakshan Sangharh Samiti leader Vijay Singh Bainsla has threatened to oppose the Rahul Gandhi’s yatra in Rajasthan unless his demand to make Pilot, a prominent face from the community, the chief minister is accepted.

Asked about the threat of Bainsla, the former deputy chief minister of the state said, “No matter how hard the BJP tries, the yatra will be successful”.

“The BJP may try to create disturbances .BJP’s policy may be to break but the yatra is ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and it will be successful. We all will welcome the yatra in the state with unity,” he said outside the party’s war room where a meeting to review the preparations for the march has been convened.

On Bainsla’s remarks that the community had voted to make a Gurjar chief minister, he said that the Congress was reduced to 21 seats in the 2013 assembly elections and after that people gave support to the party and the party got mandate in the 2018 elections.

The Gurjar community constitutes five to six per cent of the state’s population and is influential in over 40 seats, mainly in eastern Rajasthan. This region includes the districts from where the yatra is scheduled to pass.

Bainsla has also accused the Congress government of not fulfilling the promises made to the community.

“We had agreements with the government in 2019 and 2020 over several issues but the agreement is not being executed. It is not that we are threatening to stop the yatra but it is the Rajasthan government which is compelling us to take this move by not fulfilling our demands,” he said.
Infighting between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy and former PCC president Pilot has been going on over the post of chief ministership, an issue which has triggered two political crises in the four years of the Congress government in the state.