Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took a swipe at the opposition BJP on Thursday, saying its local leaders are not capable of winning the state for the party and thus it plans to contest the upcoming assembly elections projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face.
He also asked why the party was not projecting the face of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and why she did not attend the party's protest rally near the state secretariat in Jaipur earlier this week.
Rajasthan BJP leaders who are in the race for the chief minister's post are not capable to win the state for the party, he alleged, adding that in such a situation the party has projected the face of Prime Minister Modi. "Modi is an international leader and 'vishwa guru'...why are you bringing him to the state assembly elections," he said.
In an apparent reference to Raje, Gehlot said, "The CM face is sitting at home. She must have been made to sit at home." Gehlot said it is blamed on her that she saved his government during the political crisis in 2020.
"She did not save my government. Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal had given their views that there is no tradition in our state to topple a government by horse trading. Was it wrong to say this? They were right and I just welcomed that,” he said.
It may be noted that Gehlot in May this year had claimed that he survived the 2020 revolt by some Congress MLAs led by Sachin Pilot because BJP leaders Raje and Meghwal refused to support a conspiracy to topple an elected government through money power.
Assembly polls in Rajasthan are slated for later this year. The ruling Congress and the BJP are locked in a bitter contest in the state. The chief minister also said he would write to the prime minister stating that the Enforcement Directorate was not cooperating with the state government on its request to initiate an inquiry against BJP leader and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the Sanjeevani credit cooperative society case.
He said that according to a report of the Special Operations Group of the Rajasthan Police, Shekhawat and his family members were accused in the Sanjeevani credit cooperative society "scam". Gehlot also said that no matter how much Shekhawat tries, people will not accept him as a chief ministerial candidate in Rajasthan.
