oppn parties New Chapter In The Never-Ending Pilot-Gehlot Saga

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
New Chapter In The Never-Ending Pilot-Gehlot Saga

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-05-09 13:30:53

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Just when it seems that there is lull in the tiff between Sachin Pilot and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, one or the other does something which rekindles the fires. This time, by claiming in a speech that former chief minister and BJP stalwart Vasundhara Raje and some other BJP leaders saved his government when Pilot had rebelled in 2020, Gehlot has provided Pilot the fodder he needed to renew his attack on the chief minister.

Pilot said that Gehlot's speech proves that although he is a Congressman, his leader is Vasundhara Raje and not Sonia Gandhi. He has also said that Gehlot is beholden to Raje and that is why he is not pursuing corruption cases against her. Pilot has been campaigning against his own government, holding marches and sit-ins to demand that corruption charges against the Vasundhara Raje government must be thoroughly investigated and the guilty brought to book. He also announced that he hold a Jan Sangharsha Yatra from Ajmer to Jaipur to press for his demand. He reiterated that he will not quit the party as he did not want to ruin its chances before the elections.

In launching an all-out attack on Gehlot just a day before the crucial Karnataka elections, Pilot has shown that the differences between Gehlot and him have worsened since he held his sit-in in Jaipur a couple of months back. He said that Gehlot has called him many names including gaddar (traitor) and nikkamma (useless) but he never responded in the party's interest. But he said that Gehlot should explain how he says that the BJP tried to topple his government and that Raje and other BJP leaders saved it in the same breath.

The worsening of the crisis and the Congress high command's inaction shows that Pilot is being pushed to the wall. Observers believe that Pilot is likely to leave the Congress a couple of months before the state elections. He will probably not join the BJP immediately but is likely to form his own outfit. If Pilot leaves it will be a huge setback for the Congress as the 2018 win for the party was in a major part due to the tireless and effective campaign run by Pilot and his supporters.