DW BUREAU / chandigarh Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday exuded confidence that his party will put up a stupendous performance in the February 20 assembly polls in Punjab and retain power with an overwhelming majority. "We will again form the government in Punjab with an overwhelming majority," the senior leader from Rajasthan told a news conference here which he addressed along with Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera. Pilot said senior leader Rahul Gandhi has already said the party will go with a chief minister face in Punjab polls and the decision will be taken after consulting party workers. Regarding the polls in other states, Pilot said, "I have full confidence that we will form government in Goa, Uttarakhand, and Punjab." Pilot said he was campaigning in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday and accused the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party of failing to play the role opposition. "For five years, neither the Samajwadi Party nor BSP played the role of opposition. Be it Lakhimpur Kheri, Unnao, Hathras, or Dalit issues, it was the Congress which raised these issues," he said. In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling BJP is feeling jittery, Pilot alleged. "A dozen of their MLAs and some ministers have deserted the party," he said while accusing the BJP of playing "divisive politics." People have seen through these games and the saffron party can no longer fool the voters, he said. He said the BJP-led central government talks about doubling the farmers' income, but that has not happened yet.Farmers from various parts of the country agitated against the three farm laws for more than one year and so many of them died during the prolonged stir, he said. "Will the families of those farmers not question the government," he said.Pilot said Congress is the only party which together with its allies can defeat the BJP at the national level. Referring to last year's bypolls in various assembly and parliament constituencies of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Karnataka wherein the BJP suffered a setback, Pilot said the results were a verdict against the "anti-people" policies of the BJP-led dispensation. He also slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre over "high prices" of fuel and cooking gas and other essential commodities and the "growing rate" of unemployment. He attacked the BJP, saying those who talk of nationalism should answer why 1.22 lakh vacancies in the armed forces have not been filled. His remarks came at a programme here to launch a Congress booklet "Shaurya ke Naam par Vote, Sena ke Hiton par Chot" that highlights how the BJP government at the Centre "compromised" with the interests of the personnel of the armed forces, but sought votes in the name of their valour. This document has been prepared from government statements and official data, said Pilot, who released the booklet along with Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera. Citing a government response in Parliament, Pilot, a senior Congress leader from Rajasthan, claimed that there are as many as 1,22,555 vacancies in the armed forces but the government is doing nothing to fill these vacancies or for the welfare of soldiers. "Those who talk of nationalism, they should answer why these posts have not been filled for the last seven years," he said while taking to reporters. "The government has accepted that 1,22,555 posts are vacant in the armed forces, out of which 10,000 posts are of officers. Somewhere, we are compromising the external security infrastructure...," Pilot said. On the booklet, which was released ahead of the February 20 assembly polls in Punjab, he said, "Because we believe people of this country and Punjab, which is a border state, where brave people have faced various challenges, need to know the truth." Pilot alleged that the BJP government has imposed tax on the disability pension of soldiers and that soldiers were discriminated against in the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations. Ex-servicemen have been "cheated" in the name of "one rank, one pension" (OROP), it was claimed in the Congress booklet. Pilot said that the previous United Progressive Alliance government led by Manmohan Singh had in February 2014 approved the OROP. "After the (2014 Lok Sabha) polls, a new government came ...but even after seven years, 30 lakh ex-servicemen have not got anything," he said. Besides, the budget has been reduced by nearly Rs 2,000 crore for the ECHS scheme for soldiers and their families, the Congress leader claimed. "In the CSD canteen, first time purchase has come under GST (Goods and Services Tax) and the upper limit for how much one can purchase has been fixed," he said, while adding there is a difference between the intent and the actions of the Centre. (editor@dailyworld.in)