Rahul will lead Congress to victory in 2014, lok sabha poll, Lok sabha poll 2014, Rahul Gandhi , Narendra Modi, Modi BJP PM candidate, Sachin pilot, Congress, BJP, latest news.

Rahul will lead Congress to victory in 2014.

Carrying on the political legacy of his late father Congress leader and former Union minister Rajesh Pilot, Sachin Pilot is one of the leading voices of the UPA.
As the Minister of Corporate Affairs and a part of Rahul Gandhi's core group, Pilot is a suave face for the Congress - has the rare combination of an urban face and rural appeal.

As the general elections draw close, the Congress needs to bank on its urban faces to shatter the myth of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, which is attracting metropolitan India.

RCR dream

Asked about Modi's chances of getting to 7, Race Course Road, Pilot voices his doubts saying: "Modi was desperate to have the tag of PM-in-waiting as did Advani, who also tried but you know what happened."

"Please check what has happened in Gujarat under him. The level of malnutrition among children is at an all-time high and the social indicators are poor," he said.

The 36-year-old minister, who is a management graduate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania also has political connection with the ruling family of Jammu and Kashmir - his wife Sara is the daughter of National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah.

Asked if Rahul can match Modi as PM candidate, Pilot says: "Rahul will lead the Congress to victory in 2014. He is our leader and will lead the party."

Changing gear to the Muzaffarnagar communal riots, Pilot believes that there is some collusion between the BJP and the SP that led to the riots.

"Now facts are coming out that local leaders fuelled communal tension and the names of leaders such as Azam Khan have come out. It is now known that the intent was to create a huge communal divide," he says.

Pilot, who represents a new generation of politicians, is candid: "As a CM you take an oath on the Constitution to protect the lives of your people and he (Akhilesh Yadav) has clearly failed there."

Significantly, he sees a direct link and blames the Sangh Parivar for the communal riots. "The kind of things Modi, the Sangh Parivar and the RSS stand for and have been talking about, clearly question their role in all this."

"They are taking the country backwards with a narrow agenda and want to revive the communal divide of the 80s and 90s. They have to realise that the country has moved on," he says.

Asked if he was worried about corporates deserting brand India, he says: "Certainly, there are worries about India getting a bad name because of these communal incidents but I am more worried about the innocents who have lost their lives."

Clearly Pilot is confirming what many have feared - that in the run up to the 2014 polls there is a deliberate attempt to polarise voters by creating a communal divide.

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