Congress workers should never do anything to damage party: CM Ashok Gehlot after Sachin Pilot's name omitted from star campaigners list

NEW DELHI: In an apparent jibe at fellow partyman Sachin pilot, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said that all Congress workers should focus on how to win the next election and how they can contribute "and should never do anything which can cause damage to the party".

The remark came a day after Pilot's name was conspicuously missing from the party's list of star campaigners for the Karnataka assembly polls.

Gehlot's name was included in the list besides that of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and national president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who was excluded from the Gujarat polls’ star campaigner list, also found a place in the list, besides Jagadish Shettar, who recently joined the Congress from the BJP.

Gehlot and Pilot have been locked in a leadership tussle and haven't been seeing eye-to-eye on a range of issues.

After surviving an attempt orchestrated by Pilot to unseat him as chief minister, Gehlot had hit out at the former calling him "Nikamma (worthless)" and "Nakara (useless)" and had accused Pilot of betraying the party.

Pilot recently sat on a day's fast demanding that the Gehlot government meet its pre-electoral promise for a CBI probe into alleged corruption during the tenure of former CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

The incident was a major embarrassment for the party in the run up to the assembly polls in the state.

The omission of Pilot's name in the latest star campaigners lit may indicate the high command's hardening stance against the young leader.

Karnataka goes to the polls on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13.
(With inputs from agencies)