Pilot kept out to prevent caste imbalance?

JAIPUR: Reservation is likely to play a key role in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Rajasthan, with many senior Congress leaders in the state citing caste factor as the main reason for Sachin Pilot not finding a place in Sunday���s Union cabinet reshuffle.
According to them, the party high command has taken the decision as the young Dausa MP belongs to the Gujjar community and inducting him into the cabinet will upset the powerful Meenas in the poll-bound state.
It will have an adverse impact on the Meenas even in his own constituency Dausa, had Sachin been made a minister, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) sources say.
"The Meena community would have been upset if Sachin Pilot would become a minister," says a senior RPCC office-bearer.
But contrary to the view of some Congressmen and Sachin's supporters, the Meenas from the Dausa constituency say they, too, are unhappy.
"Sachin Pilot is a popular leader and we would have wanted him to be a minister. He has even ensured us that if Gujjars are included in the ST category, separate quota would be given to them," says Nathulal Meena, a lawyer from Dausa.
Puran Meena, a former pradhan from Dausa, says the Pilot family has a great respect in the area. "When it comes to late Rajesh Pilot or his son Sachin, it's not about Meenas or Gujjars. We all wanted Sachin to be a minister." Sachin, however, refused to make any comment on the issue.
Traditionally Congress supporters, the Meenas have backed BJP during the 2003 Assembly polls. But soon after the Gujjar agitation in May last year, the community distanced itself from the saffron party. The Gujjars' demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category has made them the arch rival of the Meenas, who fear Gujjars will eat into their share in the reservation pie.
"Everybody wants our leader to become a minister, but we respect the party high command's decision," says Rakesh Chowdhry, party's Dausa unit chief.