"INDIA Bloc Will Form Government In 2024 If...": Sachin Pilot

Rajasthan's former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday alleged that the BJP government at the Centre had "failed in every field" and claimed if the Congress wins the upcoming state elections, the INDIA bloc will form the government at the Centre in 2024.

"It is very important to win the elections in Rajasthan, hence every worker is focussed on trying to win the elections with full force," Mr Pilot told reporters in Ajmer.

Targeting the Centre, Sachin Pilot said, "It has failed in every field, be it inflation, unemployment, farmers, youth... all are suffering." Taking a dig at BJP's Parivartan Yatra in Rajasthan, he claimed there is a lot of acrimony within the party in the state.

"The BJP is in the opposition here and is not able to play that role. Earlier it had started Jan Aakrosh Yatra in which the public was not present, now it is doing Parivartan Yatra," he said.

"They (BJP leaders) are taking satisfaction from the fact that the government changes every five years. I believe that this time we are going to break this tradition," he said.

He said that the BJP is hoping that it will come into power "in the name of Ram Mandir and religious polarisation, but people have understood them".

"I do not think that BJP will perform well in these four states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. I think that the Congress Party will form a government in all four states," he said.

Pilot said that there is a serious challenge as Lok Sabha elections in the country are due next year. "If the Congress party wins in these four states, then 'INDIA' will form an alliance government in 2024," he said.

Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged the BJP government at the Centre was creating new controversies daily as it did not have any work to show in its ledger.

"Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot led Congress government has touched every section of the society as it has fulfilled 94 per cent of the promises made in the election manifesto," he claimed at a press conference.

Hitting out at the Centre, he said, "Every day a new fight...a new controversy. Why they are doing it? Because they do not have the courage to make their ledger public. They do not have the capacity, intention and they do not have anything to show." However, BJP's national spokesperson and MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore targeted the Congress government in Rajasthan on issues like women's safety and electricity supply and said there is a difference between what the Congress promises and what it delivers.

"Even when Congress makes a promise, it definitely puts a condition on it," Rathore told reporters at a press conference.

He said the state government provided 100 units of free electricity and later imposed a fuel surcharge on the bills besides undeclared power cuts.

The BJP leader said, "The work of Congress is to make tempting promises to save the chair. If we compare it with the Modi government at the Centre, then in the last nine years when the Modi government announced Kisan Samman Nidhi, 14 instalments have been released till now." He said that similarly in Ujjwala, the Centre fulfilled all the promises like providing gas connections to crores of women.

During the Parivartan Sankalp Yatra, BJP's national general secretary and state in-charge Arun Singh, former state president Arun Chaturvedi, Rajya Sabha member Kirori Lal Meena and MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria held a press conference in Chaksu and spoke about unemployment, deteriorating law and order and atrocities against women in the state.

Arun Singh said that enthusiasm is being seen among people of all sections of the society regarding the Parivartan Yatra and there is a resentment among voters against the Congress government.

MP Meena alleged that a government "of scams and corruption" was ruling the state.

Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis said that the people of Rajasthan have made up their minds to elect a government which will work with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Fadanvis said that the Parivartan Yatra of the BJP has been receiving enormous response from the people of the state.

"It shows that the people of Rajasthan have made up their minds for a change in government. They are noticing the hollow promises of Congress and Gehlot government, I am confident that there will be change in Rajasthan," he told reporters.

Devendra Fadnavis had arrived in Jodhpur to attend the party's Parivartan Yatra in Pali on Tuesday and was accompanied by the BJP National Secretary Vijaya Rahatkar.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)