the state assembly election was fought on the welfare plank and with Ashok Glod as the chief minister. But Sachin Pilot has proved that he matters in the political landscape of Rajasthan. His community is about 6 to 9% of the vote, plus the outreach to the UVA vote, which is about 16 to 18%. The youth voter is very much here to stay. So what really is the main plank of this campaign? And what's the difference? That Sachin Pilot can make all this and more with Sachin Pilot on the campaign trail? So how is the Congress's campaign playing out in Rajasthan? He is in charge of Chhattisgarh, but his charisma counts in Rajasthan. All this and more with Sachin Pilot on the campaign trail. So there's a lot at stake for the Congress in Rajasthan. They haven't managed to open their account. In the past two elections, the BJP has been getting 25 out of 25. Will they do a hat trick this time? And also they don't have their government in places in? It's quite a tough election, you know. The BJP is hoping for a hat trick that PM is doing Subhas everywhere, and he's saying, Give me 25 out of 25 and a very emotive, you know, sort of individually calling out to candidates. So how do you see this election? Every election is a challenge, but the last two times, like you rightly said, the BJP won all 25 seats. But what is the outcome? What is the state gained in the last 10 years? And in fact, the BJP rule for last two terms? That report card should be up for discussion. The performance, the promises made farmers' incomes to be doubled two jobs per year. So I think people also now are asking the tough questions, the right questions. And I sense a change in the mood in the electorate in the state and also other states that I've travelled. I think this time we should be in a much better position than last time. And I'm confident that not only our Congress Party candidates but the India alliance candidates will do much better. You know, a lot of these candidates are yours also. I mean, personally, I think you've pitched for a lot of the candidates. I mean, we can see that you sort of, you know, Mark on some of them. Anil is a young candidate. Murari Lal Mina. So some of these people are your candidates. Harish Mina, Are you sort of personally going to bat for them? All 25 candidates are our candidates. It is true. I've always advocated for younger people to get opportunities. I think if the party gives young people a chance, the voters reward that decision. It happened in the assembly elections also, and Parliament also young people you know just need a platform to perform. And I openly advocate the party, propagating and pushing young leaders to the front line of the leadership. So I think Rajasthan is There is a sense that people want to change and elections should be fought on issues that matter to the people. I always say common person, middle classes, farmers, young people are their lives getting any better by our policies and programmes. And I'm happy. And I'm glad that the Congress Party has now said that we'll make a legal guarantee for MSP. We'll give 30 lakh jobs from the government of India. We'll increase the payments to ₹400 and many other issues where people's lives can be better. All these emotive issues about religion and temple and masjid. And I don't think that's as fruitful as it should be because the focus of the election should be on issues that are on the ground and that really impact the lives of the people. You know, you are quite the star campaigner for the Congress Party. You are very much in demand in Rajasthan. You're also in demand outside Rajasthan and you are in charge of Chhattisgarh. So it's very, very hectic. I mean, how are you managing that? Where is your focus? The good thing is that we have seven phases. So not just me. All of our leaders, even Madam. So Gandhi was in Jaipur two days ago. So we're all putting our best foot forward. We're working as hard as we can. All he wanted was a level playing field. I think it's not appropriate for the government to seize our accounts. It took the Supreme Court to intervene and allow us to fund our own campaign. So when you are acting in a way, that is, that is not on even ground, that's not appropriate. And the way that we have campaigned this time is that we are sharing with our allies and our partners and our agenda our manifesto, our strategy, our campaign, our communication It's all coming together. So the India alliance, I think, stands a very good chance when the results are out on the fourth of June. There were some people who were of the opinion that people, you know, leaders like you, Ashok Dota, Raji maybe even someone like Raghu Sharma. You know, they should have actually fought this election. They should have been leading from the front. What is your was there? Did the High Command ask you all to fight the ultimate decision of who will contest assembly? Who will contest Parliament? Who will do organisational work? Who will campaign? That is a decision. But we put our best forward. We have a former chief minister in I'm looking after PB is contesting. Sing is contesting. Son is contesting this time again. Rajasthan. They are not. That's my point. They are not and can contest. And why not the leaders of Rajasthan? Which candidate is best for that seat? So we do a feedback. We do a survey, we take reports and we figure out who the best candidate is, and my job or some other senior leader's job is not just to fight, win his own election. We have to make sure that all these people win. The 25 seat is a large state. So our job is to put all of our efforts in making these candidates win. And I can assure you this time without getting numbers, I think the Congress will get more seats in the BPS. Give us some off record information. Also. Why you and Ashok reluctant to fight? Not at all, not at all. Where is the reluctance? I fought parliament elections before I fought assembly three months ago. So whatever the party decides for us to do, we do that. The ultimate decision lies in Delhi. But I've been in charge of a state which again is an important state. See all the states where there is a bipolar contest between Congress, BJP. That's where we have to do better because that's where the last two terms we haven't performed very well. So if we increase our strike rate in a bipolar contest in these Heartland states, that will be the game changer for the 2024 election results and we all focus on that. I don't know how much I'm buying that Sachin Pilot as an organisational person. I don't know how convinced we are all about that. I have been party president for seven years. I am general secretary of Rajasthan Chhattisgarh. I have worked in the organisation for 20 years by the way parties make governments, governments never make parties. OK, One more question. What about the internal dynamics of the Congress's campaign in Rajasthan? Because last time around I remember there was a lot of criticism and your government was in. There was criticism from even within the party that you know the chief minister had focused only on his son's constituency. The campaign had not been cohesive. So what? Has that been resolved now? How do you see it now? Look, it's natural if someone's son or daughter is contesting. Obviously you know, we want to make sure that seat we win, but I think we are focused on all seats. It's unfair to say that Mr Klod is focusing on his son seat. He's camped in other areas also, but yes, that seat is also important. It's a tough seat for us and we'll win that seat in terms of putting our efforts together. Whether it's a party president, whether it's a former chief minister, whether it's myself, we're all distributed our work. We're campaigning together where we can go where one of us can go. The other 2 may not join us, so we have worked out how to campaign in the entire state. But like I said, we have two phases in Rajasthan, so it's going well. Razi is coming on 11th. Priyanka Gandhiji will be here for two days is already here. So all of us are doing our work. And that criticism is unfounded because, you know, we all campaign for each other also. But it's unfair to say that Mr K is campaigning only for his and that's not fair. He's doing other seats also. I'm just saying, you know, if any lessons have been learned from the past because that did come up, you know, in the party forum I mean, I'm not saying it. It came up within your party forum? Yes, but I'm saying so. We are all as sincere about making all the other candidates win as we are about one particular seat. So, for example, I'm campaigning today in Goa and a and A and Jaipur. But I've also travelled to bar jour Bali. So we are campaigning to Of course, that's in the second place. You know, in the political landscape of Rajasthan, you clearly matter. I mean, when you go and we go with you into election meetings, you can see the connect that people have. And when you start speaking, they kind of you know, there's a lot of energy at that point. So somewhere, you know, your detractors may have tried to write you off from Rajasthan. But clearly you are here to stay. And you know, you're definitely a grassroots politician. Is that how you see your future coming back to your earlier question? So I have been in parliament for 10 years. I have been a minister in the government. But my focus is Rajasthan and how I can help strengthen the party here. And don't forget, your elections are only four years away now, 4.5 years away. So in politics, one does get criticised. It's very natural, but I like to campaign hard, work hard and deliver for the party wherever possible. So I'm not too concerned about what my deject said. But yes, I do feel happy and proud that the workers and the people feel enthused when I campaign for them. So Ashok had also said that he's not going to leave Rajasthan and he used a tagline. He said, Do you want to give us a tagline for Rajasthan? No, I don't want to give guidelines. I just want to make sure that people understand my commitment to the state and the party. Last 20 odd years, I've worked hard and we really worked hard to form the government. In 2018, we couldn't form the government again. And as the last three decades we form the government. We lose. But this time again we work hard and we should always look ahead and not look back. We look back with regret and looking back into the past doesn't yield results. We must be positive, must be hopeful and look at the future. So this loop election itself will tell you how the future is shaping up for the Congress Party. Thank you.
