Rajasthan Congress turns into a battleground

JAIPUR: BJP’s ‘clean sweep’ in the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan has stirred the hornet’s nest in the state Congress, with BJP demanding resignation of CM Ashok Gehlot on moral grounds. His ministerial and party colleagues are saying that accountability must be fixed for the rout.

Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot on Tuesday met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi separately in New Delhi. Three ministers close to Pilot, Udai Lal Anjana, Ramesh Meena and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, demanded that deliberations and introspection be held for fixing accountability. However, Gehlot confidant, agriculture minister Lalchand Kataria, tendered his resignation to indicate that the ministers had to take collective responsibility for Congress’ poor show. Batting for Gehlot, party chief whip Mahesh Joshi said individuals should not be blamed for the defeat.

“It’s a proxy war between two strong factions in the government. BJP’s clean sweep has strengthened the anti-Gehlot camp, who has started demanding his replacement. This will weaken the party,” said a Congress leader.


Responding to reports in a section of the media that Rahul Gandhi was perturbed about Gehlot’s ‘long stay in Jodhpur’ to canvass for his son who lost the polls, the CM clarified he had addressed 104 public meetings and visited all constituencies.

“I visited all 25 seats more than four times and accompanied 22 candidates when they filed their nominations. I campaigned across the state. Normally, I stay 2-3 days in Jodhpur for campaigning. This time, I extended it by two more days,” he said. “Pilot had suspected involvement of a senior leader when Congress, belying estimations of a landslide victory, fell short of majority in the assembly polls... 12 Congress rebels won as independents,” said another Congress leader.