Govind Singh Dotasra: Once a Practising Lawyer, Now Chief of Rajasthan Congress after Pilot's Sacking

Govind Singh Dotasra, the man who replaced Sachin Pilot as chief of the Congress's Rajasthan state unit, has never lost an election in his 15-year career, say Congress sources. The 56-year-old Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education (Independent) will now assume the reins of his party, which were in Pilot's hands for the past six years.

Born on October 1, 1964, in Kriparam Ji Ki Dhani in Lakshmangarh of Sikar district, 55-year-old Dotasra had started his career at the grass-roots level in the party while working as a lawyer.

Dotasra is a three-time MLA from Laxmangarh constituency and is currently the vice-president of the state unit. A Jat who fought his first election in 2005 in a Panchayat Samiti of Laxmangarh, he won the 2008 Assembly election from Laxmangarh on a Congress ticket by defeating his rival Independent candidate by a margin of just 34 votes. A margin that he has constantly been improving on in the subsequent elections. In 2013, Dotasra won the seat again, this time by a margin of over 10,000 votes, and won it again in 2018 by over 2.20 lakh votes.

While announcing the party's decision to appoint Dotasra as its chief, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said he is an "experienced and talented colleague who was born in a farmer's house, came from an OBC background, worked on the ground for the party and rose in the process, from chief of party's district unit to now become its state party chief".

Since 2008, Dotasra has been continuously winning assembly elections. He was made the state's education minister after the party's victory in the 2018 assembly polls.

Dotasra has won the best MLA award for 2016 for raising the maximum, more than 600, questions on the floor of the state assembly. He has also served as the party's chief whip in his previous term and in overseeing its media management for the 2018 elections.

Dotasra has completed BCom and then LLB from Rajasthan University. He practised in a Sikar court for almost two decades. He was married to Sunita Devi on March 4, 1984 and has two sons. His wife is a government schoolteacher.