Rajasthan: Pilot's five-day 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' over graft, paper leaks begins Thursday noon

Mounting pressure on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the Congress central leadership in the run-up to the assembly polls, party leader Sachin Pilot will begin his Jan Sangharsh Yatra from Ajmer on Thursday, covering nearly 125 km in five days on issues of corruption and paper leaks.

Mounting pressure on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the Congress' central leadership in the run-up to the assembly polls, party leader Sachin Pilot will begin his ''Jan Sangharsh Yatra'' from Ajmer on Thursday, covering nearly 125 km in five days on issues of corruption and paper leaks. Last month, the Tonk MLA and former deputy of Gehlot held a day-long fast, targeting his own party's government in Rajasthan for ''inaction'' in alleged cases of corruption when the BJP ran the state. Pilot will address a gathering near Ashok Udyan on Jaipur Road around noon on Thursday before commencing the march towards the state capital. He will halt for the night at Tolamal village in Kishangarh. The former Rajasthan Congress chief has asserted that his march was not against anyone, but against corruption and over issues such as paper leaks. Gehlot and Pilot have been at loggerheads publicly for more than two years. In 2020, Pilot had led a rebellion in the party for a change of leadership in the state. However, Gehlot managed to survive and Pilot and some of his loyalists were later ousted from the state cabinet.

The chief minister, while addressing a public programme in Dholpur on Sunday, had claimed that he survived a revolt in 2020 by some Congress MLAs because BJP leaders Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal refused to support a conspiracy to topple an elected government through money power.

A couple of days later, Pilot targeted Gehlot over his comments, saying it appeared that the veteran Congressman's leader was Vasundhara Raje Scindia and not Sonia Gandhi. He had also rejected the charge that the dissidents – whom he had led -- took any money from the BJP.