'Bow out of contest before voting', says Pilot as Subhash Chandra seeks his support for RS polls

Jaipur, June 7 (IANS) Confident of winning the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan, BJP-backed Independent candidate Subhash Chandra on Tuesday sought support from Congress leader and former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, stating that if the latter missed the opportunity now, he will not be able to become the Chief Minister till 2028.

"Sachin Pilot is a hardworking person and a big opportunity has come his way now. If this opportunity is missed today, he will not be able to become the Chief Minister till 2028," Chandra said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Chandra also claimed that he was a good friend of Sachin Pilot's father, the late Rajesh Pilot.

Meanwhile, Pilot was quick to react to Chandra's proposal, saying, "Some advice to the 'independent' candidate from Rajasthan -- best to bow out of the contest before the voting on Jan 10. It's better to lean towards humility rather than humiliation. Unfortunately, politics is not like making TV series where you pick and choose who does what!"

At the press conference, Chandra expressed happiness over getting support from Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal, who announced that his party RLP with three MLAs shall support Chandra.

He said that apart from the BJP, he has the support of nine MLAs.

"I am sure that I will win the election. I am grateful to the people of the state. After winning the election, I will raise the issues of Rajasthan prominently in the Rajya Sabha. Overseas Rajasthanis have always been in touch with me. In fact, my native place is Rajasthan and I have my forefathers' house here," he added.

Chandra also claimed that eight Congress MLAs will indulge in cross-voting as they are fed up of the poor governance in the state.

"In fact, I have complained to the Election Commission about the illegal merger of BSP MLAs with the Congress. There is a possibility that they will be able to participate in the voting process as the process adopted to merge them with the Congress was illegal," Chandra said.

The Independent candidate also termed Gehlot as one of his good friends, and said that he had sent a representative to the Chief Minister a day before filing his nomination, but Gehlot expressed his inability to help him at this point of time.

"I am glad that he has been honest with me," Chandra said.

"I have been a Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana for six years. The people there know what work I did for each district," he added.