Inordinate interest is being shown by former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah in Rajasthan elections and also in selection of chief minister here. A forerunner for the post—Sachin Pilot is the husband of Abdullah’s sister—and concern was reflected in several tweets by Abdullah.
He tweeted on 10 December saying, “Rajasthan wasn’t meant to be a close fight!” This was at 10.30 am when exit polls showed that BJP reduced to redundancy in Rajasthan.
He tweeted thrice on Thursday as Congress deliberated upon choosing chief minister between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.
After a day filled with speculations he tweeted at 5.34 pm saying, “It will get more & more difficult the longer this takes.”
As the day progressed and situation seemed to incline towards Gehlot getting the top slot, came reports of members of Gurjar community protests and blocking highways in Karauli and Dausa. In an effort to control the situation Sachin Pilot tweeted out an appeal for them to stay peaceful and disciplined. “I have full faith in the top leadership, we will welcome any decision that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi take. We are committed to Congress and have the responsibility to maintain the dignity of the party,” Sachin wrote in his tweet. Abdullah promptly retweeted the post.
The third tweet came at 6.13 pm in response to a tweet that said, “It took the BJP a week after the UP results to declare Ajay Bisht the CM. Congress decision-making is lightning fast by comparison.
Abdullah tweeted, “Interesting. I’d completely forgotten how long the BJP had taken & that too with an over whelming majority.” Rajasthan is a land that revels in relations; here a son-in-law holds special place of regard and is called a paavna.
Similarly a woman’s brother and her husband too traditionally share a special bond. PCC chief Sachin Pilot’s relatives are maintaining relations in truly Rajasthani style.
Meanwhile, Abdullah said the results made it clear that there is anger and a feeling of alienation among the people and the Centre has been unwilling to accept this reality. He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he should listen more and talk less.
“Modi ji talks a great deal, which is not wrong, but people who talk more, listen less.
“The prime minister does not listen as much as he should. Otherwise, the mass anger due to agrarian distress, demonetization or rising fuel prices among others will not have led to humiliation for the BJP in the assembly polls,” Abdullah said at an event here.
The BJP lost the assembly elections in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
—With agency inputs
