Bengaluru: “Most certainly, the Congress can ride back to power as it did in 2004 after being out of power for eight years. There is no way that the BJP will be able to hold on to some 100 seats in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh because the performance of their state and central governments is far from satisfactory,” said Sachin Pilot on Sunday.
Speaking at a conclave held by The Hindu yesterday, the Deputy chief minister of Rajasthan said Indian politics is unpredictable as nobody knew that the late Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would lose by just one vote.
Sometimes, politicians misread Indian electorate and underestimate the competence of voters. “As many as 130 crore people have been watching for the last four years and have been asking questions and getting no answers. It won’t be surprising if the mighty BJP has a fantastic fall,” he stated.
Pilot blamed the BJP of being silent on issues such as food prices and national security and never before had various institutions in India been devalued like under the current rule. “There is a deliberate and conscious effort in the last four years to devalue institutions. It will have far reaching consequences,” he added.
Speaking about Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into politics, Pilot she was just the general secretary and not a Chief Minister or Governor. He said her entry has caused political uncertainty and they have a reason to fear.
To a question whether Congress supported a woman Dalit to be a Prime Minister, he said the party is pro-women and pro-Dalit and winning an adequate number of seats decides leadership issues. For the past 35 years, there has been no Prime Minister from the Gandhi family and Rahul Gandhi was doing this to become one.
Talking about the coming Lok Sabha elections, Pilot said Congress’ manifesto was being prepared by P Chidambaram and that the details will be out in the beginning of March.