New Delhi: Congress MLA Sachin Pilot on Tuesday launched a fresh attack on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and said that it seems like his leader is not Sonia Gandhi but Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vasundhara Raje. His reaction came after Gehlot on Sunday claimed that he survived the revolt by some Congress MLAs in 2020 because Raje refused to support a conspiracy to topple an elected government.
“After listening to Ashok Gehlot’s speech in Dholpur, it seems like his leader is not Sonia Gandhi but Vasundhara Raje Scindia,” Sachin Pilot told reporters in Jaipur.
He added that he has now ‘understood’ why the Rajasthan CM has not acted against corruption.
The Congress leader also categorically denied Gehlot’s charges that the MLAs who rebelled against him in 2020 had taken money from the BJP and that they should return the money to Amit Shah.
“Praising leaders from BJP and dishonouring Congress leaders is beyond my understanding… This is absolutely wrong,” the former Rajasthan deputy CM added.
He also said he will hold a five-day-long ‘Jan Sangarsh Yatra’ from Ajmer to Jaipur starting May 11 to raise issues like corruption and other issues concerning the youth.
Earlier on Sunday, Ashok Gehlot had claimed that he survived the revolt by some Congress MLAs in 2020 because BJP leaders Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal refused to support a conspiracy to topple an elected government through money power. He had also taken potshots at the rebel Congress MLAs, saying they should return the money they had taken from the BJP so that they can carry out their duty without any pressure.
It is notable that Gehlot’s then deputy Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs had revolted against his leadership in July 2020. The month-long crisis had ended after the intervention of the party’s high command and Pilot was subsequently removed as the deputy chief minister and state Congress president.
Addressing a programme in Dholpur, Gehlot said as the state party chief, he did not support the toppling of the BJP government led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat as it was unfair.
In the same manner, BJP leaders Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal said that there is no tradition in Rajasthan to topple an elected government, he claimed.
“If I wanted, Bhairon Singh ji’s government could have been toppled. I said this was unethical work. The man who is ill, he is getting treatment in America, his condition was very critical and leaders of his party were conspiring to topple his government behind him,” Gehlot said.
He continued that Meghwal and Raje also said the same thing.
“They said that we have never had a tradition to bring down elected governments on money power…,” Gehlot said.
Terming Gehlot’s ‘praises’ for her a ‘big conspiracy’, Vasundhara Raje, however, said that he ‘has made such outrageous and untrue allegations because of the rebellion in his own party and the diminishing mass base’.
To avoid a historic defeat in the 2023 assembly elections, he is creating such fabricated stories, which is unfortunate and not going to be successful, the former Rajasthan chief minister added.