6. Is Congress cracking the whip on Sachin Pilot?

| Apr 19, 2023, 22:34 IST

Pilot deboarded

Congress released its list of star campaigners for the Karnataka election. The most notable aspect of it was a missing name — Sachin Pilot, former Rajasthan deputy CM and once a key member of Team Rahul.
Pilot was on the list of star campaigners for the 2018 Karnataka polls. The 45-year-old, sulking in Congress for several months, was one of the star campaigners for the recently-concluded Assam polls.
Later in the day, Pilot's name found mention in the Congress's star campaigners list for bye polls in Jalandhar.

Timing

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Congress’s decision to drop him off the Karnataka star campaigners list comes close to Pilot’s hunger protest against the Ashok Gehlot government, accusing his own party’s dispensation of inaction in probing corruption cases from the BJP's time in power.
Pilot has been engaged in an intense political battle with Gehlot for past several years.
Following his protest in Rajasthan, Pilot headed to Delhi to meet Congress’s central leadership. He was reportedly not given an audience by top leaders. Apparently, the Gandhis are upset with his antics.

A turncoat rewarded

Former Karnataka CM Jagadish Shettar, who recently joined Congress after BJP denied him a ticket, features in the list of 40 star campaigners.
Shettar was with Jan Sangh and BJP for decades, and joined Congress recently, just weeks ahead of the May 10 election.

Regulars and specials

Besides the Gandhis, senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, and all three CMs — Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and Sukhwinder Sukhu — feature in the Karnataka star campaigners list.
The list has Shashi Tharoor's name as well. Tharoor was not a star campaigner for the Gujarat polls in December 2022, held in the shadow of Congress president’s election, in which he was a contender against Gandhis-backed Kharge. Tharoor, however, made a comeback in Nagaland polls earlier this year.

Meanwhile…

The BJP’s star campaigners’ list, released on Wednesday, had regulars such PM Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and Himanta Biswa Sarma among others.
The most notable omission from the list was Tejasvi Surya, Bangalore South MP and BJP’s youth morcha president. Also missing from the list are firebrand Hindutva MP Pratap Simha and BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra.

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