Taking direct shots at his arch rival just one day before his Congress party confronts the important Karnataka poll, Sachin Pilot stated today that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot appeared to be led by Vasundhara Raje of the BJP rather than Sonia Gandhi.
Sachin Pilot launched a scathing attack on Ashok Gehlot, claiming that he wouldn’t leave the party as he didn’t want to harm its chances for the Rajasthan election later this year. Instead, he declared a “Jan Sangharsh Yatra” to raise awareness of corruption from Ajmer to Jaipur.
The response came in response to Ashok Gehlot’s shocking claims made over the weekend that Vasundhara Raje, a previous chief minister, assisted in keeping his administration in power when Sachin Pilot and a small group of MLAs rebelled in 2020.
Gehlot claims that the BJP tried to overthrow his government. Then he claims that a BJP politician assisted in saving his government. He needs to clarify the inconsistency.
The Chief Minister asserted during the rally on Sunday that Vasundhara Raje and two other BJP leaders assisted in saving his government and that money was given to MLAs to get them to defect to the BJP and overthrow it. Additionally, Mr. Gehlot made fun of the MLAs who had revolted, telling them that they “should return the money.”
“After hearing the Chief Minister’s speech in Dholpur, I think his leader is not Sonia Gandhi, but Vasundhara Raje,” Mr. Pilot told the media.
The remarks simultaneously hit his party’s challenger and the BJP.
Without holding back, Mr. Pilot charged that Mr. Gehlot had insulted his own MLAs and damaged his own party in the run-up to the poll.
“I now understand why no action was taken against corruption by the Vasundhara Raje government despite my repeated requests,” said Mr. Pilot, who also charged Ashok Gehlot with softening his stance against the BJP due to a covert agreement.
The former deputy chief minister claimed that during the past 2.5 years, Mr Gehlot had repeatedly called him names and attacked him. He referred to me as a gaddar (traitor), nikkama (useless), and corona , among other derogatory terms; I refrained from responding out of respect for the party, he claimed.
He further stated that Mr. Gehlot was not the target of his yatra. The yatra, he insisted, “is not against anyone; it’s against corruption.”