BJP projects PM Modi's face due to Rajasthan leaders' incapability: CM Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has criticised the opposition BJP, suggesting that their local leaders lack the ability to secure victory in the state. As a result, the party intends to enter the upcoming Assembly elections by projecting the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also asked why the party was not projecting the face of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and why she did not attend the party’s protest rally near the state secretariat in Jaipur earlier this week.

Rajasthan BJP leaders who are in the race for the chief minister’s post are not capable to win the state for the party, he alleged on Thursday, adding that in such a situation the party has projected the face of Prime Minister Modi.

“Modi is an international leader and vishwa guru…why are you bringing him to the state assembly elections,” he said.

Also Read: Rajya Sabha adjourned for day amid ruckus over Manipur, Rajasthan issues

In an apparent reference to Raje, Gehlot said, “The CM face is sitting at home. She must have been made to sit at home.”

Gehlot said it is blamed on her that she saved his government during the political crisis in 2020.

“She did not save my government. Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal had given their views that there is no tradition in our state to topple a government by horse-trading. Was it wrong to say this? They were right and I just welcomed that, he said.

Gehlot in May had claimed that he survived the 2020 revolt by some Congress MLAs led by Sachin Pilot because BJP leaders Raje and Meghwal refused to support a conspiracy to topple an elected government through money power.

Also Read: Gehlot: Sometimes think of leaving but post of Rajasthan CM not leaving me

Assembly polls in Rajasthan are slated for later this year. The ruling Congress and the BJP are locked in a bitter contest in the state.

The chief minister also said he would write to the prime minister stating that the Enforcement Directorate was not cooperating with the state government on its request to initiate an inquiry against BJP leader and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the Sanjeevani credit cooperative society case.

He said that according to a report of the Special Operations Group of the Rajasthan Police, Shekhawat and his family members were accused in the Sanjeevani credit cooperative society “scam”.

Gehlot also said that no matter how much Shekhawat tries, people will not accept him as a chief ministerial candidate in Rajasthan.

(With agency inputs)