Sachin Pilot to be Rajasthan's Deputy CM: Here's all you need to know about young Congress leader

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. The urbane politician, equally at home in a village as in the debating room of an English news channel, has more than earned his electoral stripes, say party leaders.

The assembly elections win against the BJP may not be as emphatic as the Congress would have wished, but to Pilot goes the credit of ensuring that his party came back to power in Rajasthan by defeating the BJP's Vasundhara Raje -- in keeping with the 'revolving door' tradition of voters alternately choosing the BJP and the Congress.

In 2013, when the Congress faced its worst defeat, winning just 21 seats against the BJP's 163, party president Rahul Gandhi handed the reins of the state to the next gen leader, a two-time parliamentarian and son of former leader Rajesh Pilot who died in 2000 in a road accident in Dausa.

Here’s all you need to know about Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot:

# 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, said Congress workers.

# 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.

# Pilot believes Kishangarh Airport in Ajmer is one of his achievements as MP.

# The 41-year-old Congress leader had made a vow in 2014 when the party lost in the Lok Sabha elections to not wear a turban he so loved till the Congress returns to power.

(With PTI inputs)