Sachin Pilot
From becoming a Member of Parliament at 26 to being appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan at 41, Sachin Pilot has emerged as a matured politician and a youth icon for many Congress aspirants over his 14-year political journey. After steering Congress to a thumping win in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot on Monday took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. After conceding a humiliating defeat in the 2013 polls, Congress President Rahul Gandhi handed the reins of the state to Pilot hoping for a revival and within five years he changed the fortunes of the state.
Born on September 7, 1977, Pilot graduated in English Literature (honours) degree from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and then worked with the Delhi Bureau of the BBC and then the General Motors Corporation.
He completed an MBA from the Wharton Business School (University of Pennsylvania) where he specialised in multinational management and finance.
During his tenure as MP, he served as a member of the Parliament's Standing Committee on Home Affairs, consultative committee in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and also Budget Estimates Committee of Parliament.
The father of two sons and married to National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah's daughter Sara, Pilot was selected as one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum in 2008.
Pilot, who received his private pilot's licence (PPL) from the US in 1995, is also a keen sportsman and represented Delhi in a number of National Shooting Championships.
He was also commissioned as a lieutenant in the Territorial Army.
Pilot, who served as minister in the UPA government in different capacities, accepted the challenge and refocused his attention from national politics to state level challenges.
Starting a new journey in his political career, he travelled for over five lakh kilometres through the length and breadth of the Rajasthan to strengthen the party at the grassroots level and ensure its comeback.
The 'young gun' tag may have stuck but Pilot, who has won his seat from Tonk with a margin of more than 54,000, has shown a level of maturity in successfully walking many a tightrope of his urban and rural avatars, of establishing ground level connect and also reaching out to tech-savvy youth, of engaging with grassroots worker but also dealing with the galaxy of party stalwarts in the state.
Known to be affable and approachable, Pilot's hands-on approach as the state unit chief has won him several supporters both within the party and outside.
He was elected as MP from his father's constituency Dausa in 2004 and became the youngest member of the parliament. He was elected again from Ajmer in 2009.
Pilot was also the minister of state for communication and IT in 2009 and minister of state (Independent charge) for corporate affairs in 2012.
