"Sachin Pilot was and will remain a star...": Congress MLA on Sachin Pilot's omission from star campaigners

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], April 21 : Reacting over the absence of former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot's name from the list of party star campaigners, Congress MLA Ved Prakash Solanki on Thursday said that irrespective of whether Pilot's name appears in the list or not, he was and will remain a "star".

"It doesn't matter, whether his (Sachin Pilot) name is there on the list or not. Irrespective of that, he was a star and will remain a star. We won the elections because of him, and we stand by him," Solanki told the reporters.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Congress party released its list of 40-star campaigners for the Karnataka Assembly elections.

Several Congress top guns and heavyweights, including AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and national president Mallikarjun Kharge, featured in the party's list of star campaigners.

Although, the list also included the name of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, a notable absentee was Sachin Gehlot.

Solanki also pointed out that the SC-ST community is an important part of the Congress vote bank but if the party doesn't fulfil their demands, it won't be able to retune to power in Rajasthan in the elections slated to take place later this year.

"SC-ST is the core of Congress vote bank, and till we are not able to keep it intact, we wil not be able to come back to power. The SC-ST themselves want to stay with Congress, but that will only happen when the genuine issues of the society are solved. If the issue is ignored, we won't get good results," he said.

He added, "After Sachin Pilot raised his voice, four ministers were made from the SC-ST community. But these ministers don't have any real power of their own. There is no benefit of such ministers if they can't use their powers".