Sachin Pilot To Be Congress's CM Face For Rajasthan 2028? Decoding His Latest Tribal Tour
Sachin Pilot To Be Congress's CM Face For Rajasthan 2028? Decoding His Latest Tribal Tour Published By, Last Updated: July 15, 2026, 15:11 IST Within
Sachin Pilot To Be Congress's CM Face For Rajasthan 2028? Decoding His Latest Tribal Tour Published By, Last Updated: July 15, 2026, 15:11 IST Within the state, Sachin Pilot remains one of the Congress's most recognisable mass leaders, particularly among younger voters, Gujjars and sections of rural Rajasthan Rapid Read Sachin Pilot in Dhariyawad. (Image: X/SachinPilot) Even though the next Rajasthan Assembly election is still more than two years away, Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s two-day tour of the Mewar-Vagad tribal belt has triggered fresh political discussion. Over two days, Pilot travelled through Banswara, Dungarpur, Salumber and Udaipur, met Congress workers, attended tribal community programmes, visited the revered Tripura Sundari Temple, paid tribute at a memorial programme for late Hurting Khadia, the husband of Congress MLA Ramila Khadia, and addressed multiple public gatherings. Wearing traditional tribal attire during several events, Pilot sought to project a message of cultural connect with one of Rajasthan’s most politically significant regions. The visit comes at a time when the Congress is attempting to rebuild its organisation in Rajasthan after losing power in 2023, while simultaneously facing a growing challenge in its traditional tribal strongholds from the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) and an aggressive BJP campaign. Political observers have linked the outreach to the Congress’s early preparations for the 2028 Assembly election, although the party has not officially described it as an election campaign. The larger question now being asked is whether Pilot has emerged as the Congress’s most prominent face in Rajasthan, and whether the party is quietly positioning him to lead its next electoral battle. Why The Tribal Belt Matters The Mewar-Vagad region has historically been one of the Congress’s strongest support bases. However, the political landscape has changed rapidly over the last few years. The emergence of the Bharat Adivasi Party has altered electoral equations in southern Rajasthan, particularly in the tribal-dominated districts of Banswara and Dungarpur, where the party has built considerable support among tribal voters. At the same time, the BJP has intensified its efforts to expand its footprint in the region. The Banswara-Dungarpur belt alone accounts for nine Assembly constituencies*, making it a strategically important region in any state-wide electoral calculation.
Pilot’s outreach is therefore being viewed as an attempt to reconnect the Congress with a voter base that has traditionally backed the party but has shown signs of fragmentation. During the tour, Pilot also attacked the BJP over the alleged irregularities in the Ayodhya Ram Temple Trust and accused the Rajasthan government of delaying student union, panchayat and urban local body elections. On the possibility of an alliance with the Bharat Adivasi Party, he maintained that such decisions would be taken by the Congress leadership. More Than A Regional Leader Pilot is no longer just a Rajasthan politician. He currently serves as a Congress national general secretary, has been one of the party’s principal campaigners in several state elections and is frequently deployed by the central leadership on organisational assignments. Despite his national responsibilities, Rajasthan continues to be regarded as his principal political base. Within the state, he remains one of the Congress’s most recognisable mass leaders, particularly among younger voters, Gujjars and sections of rural Rajasthan. His public meetings continue to draw large crowds, and he has retained a loyal organisational network despite years of internal turbulence. His latest tour also appeared carefully designed to project organisational unity. Senior Congress leaders including Arjun Singh Bamaniya, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Nanalal Ninama, Raghuveer Meena, Tarachand Bhagora and Anita Jatav shared the stage with him during programmes in Kushalgarh. The joint appearance was widely seen as a message that the party intends to present a united front in the tribal belt. The Long Shadow Of The Gehlot-Pilot Rivalry Any discussion about Pilot’s future in Rajasthan inevitably brings up his long-running political rivalry with former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The power struggle dates back to 2018, when the Congress returned to power after defeating the BJP. Pilot, who had served as Rajasthan Congress president and was widely credited with rebuilding the organisation after the party’s crushing defeat in 2013, was considered one of the contenders for the chief minister’s post. The Congress high command, however, chose the more experienced Ashok Gehlot as Chief Minister, while Pilot became Deputy Chief Minister. Relations between the two leaders deteriorated over the next two years and reached a breaking point in 2020, when Pilot rebelled against the Gehlot government along with several MLAs, triggering one of the biggest political crises in Rajasthan.
The BriefWire