Voters wanted me as CM, not anyone else: Gehlot

JAIPUR: Taking his fight with Sachin Pilot to new heights, chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday claimed that the people of Rajasthan wanted to see only him in the coveted chair. Gehlot asserted that he deserved to be the CM because the public support for him in the 2018 assembly elections was unprecedented.

The chief minister made the statement without any provocation while addressing a press conference after presenting the state budget. Though he did not name Pilot, Gehlot’s latest statement is being seen in political circles as the bluntest attack so far on the deputy CM. Gehlot’s statement also makes it clear that he is unwilling to step down owning responsibility for Congress’s rout in Rajasthan in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

“People in hamlets and villages of state wanted that Ashok Gehlot should be the CM; no one else should be,” Gehlot said.

“It was clear by name who should be the CM and who should not be. So, honouring people’s sentiments, Rahul Gandhi gave me the opportunity,” Gehlot said. He added, “I have been a CM earlier too but the amount of love and support I received in these elections (2018 state polls) was witnessed never before. That is why my becoming the CM was justified and I took the oath.”

In the same breath, Gehlot admitted that he failed to get support in the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May. “I could not perform in the parliamentary elections because in the entire country we lost; Modi ji did not do politics in keeping with the democratic traditions,” said Gehlot.

Soon after the assembly results in December last, Gehlot and Pilot were locked in a prolonged tussle for the CM’s post that was settled by the intervention of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and party president Rahul Gandhi. The ‘compromise’ reached then was aimed at improving Congress’s prospects in the Lok Sabha elections. The party, however, got decimated by BJP, which won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The humiliating loss in parliamentary elections has revived the rivalry between Gehlot and Pilot, with Rahul asking senior leaders to own responsibility.

“If Gehlot is as popular as he claims to be, why could we not win a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections? His so-claimed popularity should have got us at least his home seat Jodhpur from where his son contested and where he campaigned for most part of LS polls,” said a senior Congress leader seen as Pilot’s supporter. The leader who did not wish to be identified added, “Gehlot was not the CM face in state polls; how can he claim people voted for him and not for PCC chief Sachin Pilot under whom the party won every election from 2014 to 2018?”