'RESULTS WILL BE SHOCKER FOR BJP'

Congress leader Sachin Pilot speaks on a range of issues in elections in the 16th edition of Delhi Dialogues

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SHAHID FARIDI: We have among us for this edition of Delhi Dialogues, the rising star of the Congress Party, Sachin Pilot. He's a rising star at a time when most of the stars of his age and his party have turned into shooting stars. The BJP is working overtime to tell the country that the sun has set on the grand old party that is Congress to which he belongs.

Sachin Pilot, unlike the other leaders of his age and his party who became ministers in the Manmohan Singh government in 2009, doesn't come from a royal family background. His father was a first-generation politician who made a mark for himself with his hard work and honesty.

Sachin has inherited the exceptional quality of his father of connecting with the people. He became an MP, and he was probably the youngest at that time in 2004 when he was elected from Dausa. Then he was given charge of the state Congress when the party was routed in Rajasthan and could win only 21 seats out of 200. He worked hard for five years, campaigned in Rajasthan, and the party returned to power in 2018.

SACHIN PILOT: Thank you very much for inviting me.

Maybe 10, 15, or 20 years ago, one would not have thought that our polity would be where it is today. So much has happened so quickly. We have to embrace ourselves to see what the next few months and years have ahead of us.

We are in the middle of elections; it's even more interesting to be having a conversation with all of you.

PRABHU CHAWLA: The oft-used word in Congress circles is 'counting'. What exactly do you count? How many people have left the party and how many more will leave? Or something else? Many people harbour such a misunderstanding. The importexport of leaders is common when we are fighting an election. It has become so rampant that people now have become immune to it. But when a leader leaves a party, all his voters and supporters don't leave.