As Sachin Pilot’s camp pushes Congress to make him the chief minister, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot on Thursday dismissed the demand, saying a “gaddar (traitor) cannot be chief minister”. In an interview with NDTV on Thursday, the Rajasthan CM called Pilot a traitor six times and alleged that his 2020 revolt was funded by the BJP.
“A gaddar (traitor) cannot be Chief Minister,” Gehlot said on Thursday. He reiterated his stand on the matter and said the Congress High Command cannot make Sachin Pilot the Chief Minister, “a man who doesn’t have 10 MLAs, who revolted against his own party”.
Talking about Sachin Pilot’s 2020 revolt, Gehlot said it was “funded by the BJP”. “In a first for India, a party’s own president tried to bring it down.” he said, adding it was enabled by senior BJP leaders including Amit Shah.
Sachin Pilot’s response to Gehlot
Not so long after Gehlot’s remarks, Sachin Pilot responded back saying, “This is not a time for accusation. No one should be this insecure. Under his leadership Congress has lost battle twice. Nothing is permanent in politics, and we should work together to defeat BJP.”
While Ashok Gehlot alleged that BJP was behind attempts to unseat him from CM post in 2020, Pilot responded saying, “Only Congress can challenge the BJP in the country. Elections are underway in Gujarat, where Ashok Gehlot is in-charge. We have to put up an united fight to defeat the BJP.”
Gehlot had said if Pilot had apologised to the MLAs and won them over, things would have been different. “Till now, he has not apologised. If he had apologised, I would not have had to apologise,” the chief minister said, referring to his apology to former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi after more than 90 MLAs close to him did not allow a Congress Legislature Party meeting to take place.
Gurjar Leader Demands Cong High Command to Make Pilot CM
Meanwhile, a Gurjar leader, Vijay Singh Bainsla, threatened to oppose Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Rajasthan unless Sachin Pilot is made the CM. Despite so, Pilot refused to side with the Gurjar leader’s claim, and said the BJP was trying to create disturbances. “No matter how hard the BJP tries, the yatra will be successful,” Pilot had said when asked about Bainsla’s threat.
Also Read: Will Bharat Jodo Yatra Derail in Rajasthan? Gehlot, Pilot Respond to Gurjar Leader’s Warning Over CM Post Issue
Earlier, Gehlot had said his government will try to address Bainsla’s grievances. “This is democracy and everyone has the right to speak. We are ruling on the basis of the Constitution and the right to speak cannot be taken away. If there is any demand or suggestion, we will hear it out and try to address the grievances,” he said.
In his remarks, Bainsala said the Gurjar community had voted Congress to power in Rajasthan, believing a person from their community will be made CM. To this, Pilot said the Congress was reduced to 21 seats in the 2013 assembly elections, but the people gave it a mandate in the 2018 elections. Talking about the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the former deputy chief minister said he was confident that the yatra will be “historic” and that the people are excited.
‘BJP Conspired to Topple my government in 2020’
Ashok Gehlot also took a swipe at BJP during a rally Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur on Thursday, and said the party was behind taking 19 Congress MLAs to Manesar in 2020 to topple his government in the state. He hit back at the Pilot camp, and said that a conspiracy was hatched by the BJP, so that Sachin Pilot would replace him as CM. Gehlot named an independent MLA Ramkesh Meena and said that the independents had saved his government back then.
“Under a conspiracy by the BJP, 19 MLAs of the Congress were taken to Manesar by BJP. We had to pay for hotel stays for 34 days,” he said. Earlier, a minister from the Pilot camp had alleged that attempts were being made to defame Pilot.
Earlier on Wednesday, but Pilot and Gehlot took part in a meeting organized by Rahul Gandhi, related to Bharat Jodo Yatra’s scheduled arrival in Jaipur. According to reports, both of them refused to see eye to eye during the meeting, and also didn’t sit together.
Without naming Sachin Pilot, Gehlot had referred to a “young colleague” in 2020, and had called him a “nikamma” (useless). Back then too, both Congress leaders were locked in a power tussle. “We knew he is ‘nikamma’ (useless), he is ‘nakara’ (idle) and not doing any work,” the chief minister had told reporters.
Gehlot’s September Rebellion
In September, around 92 legislators from the Gehlot camp attended a parallel meeting hosted by Shanti Dhariwal at his residence in Jaipur and skipped the legislature party meeting convened for passing a resolution authorising the Congress chief to appoint a successor to Gehlot, who had then announced to contest for the Congress presidential election.
The MLAs had opposed Gehlot’s arch-rival Sachin Pilot’s possible elevation to the CM post and demanded that Gehlot’s successor should be chosen from his camp. They also mentioned Pilot’s 2020 rebellion, saying the party must reward those who stood by it during that crisis.
Later, Congress served show-cause notice to three Rajasthan ministers – Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi, and Dharmendra Rathore — for “grave indiscipline” Gehlot had also apologised to then party interim chief Sonia Gandhi over the rebellion by MLAs from his camp and pulled himself out of the Congress presidential race.
Also Read: ‘Shoulder to Shoulder…’: Rahul Gandhi Joined for the First Time By Sister Priyanka in Bharat Jodo Yatra
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