Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said his deputy Sachin Pilot should take responsibility for his son’s defeat from Jodhpur in the Lok Sabha elections, ABP News reported.
When asked if it was Pilot who had recommended Vaibhav Gehlot’s name for the Jodhpur seat, Ashok Gehlot told ABP News: “It’s a good thing if he [Pilot] says so. This dispels media reports about differences between the two of us.”
Pilot had said that the Congress will win Jodhpur with a huge margin as the party has six legislators in the Lok Sabha constituency and the campaigning was great, Ashok Gehlot said. “So, I feel he should own responsibility for that seat at least,” Ashok Gehlot said. “There should be a complete post-mortem of the Jodhpur seat results to understand why we did not win it.”
When asked if the defeat in Jodhpur was Pilot’s responsibility, Ashok Gehlot said: “Pilot said that we were winning [from Jodhpur] and that he got the party ticket [for Vaibhav]. But we lost all 25 seats. If someone says that the CM or the PCC [Pradesh Congress Committee] chief should take responsibility for it, I believe it’s a collective responsibility.” Pilot is the president of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee.
Ashok Gehlot has been elected to the Lok Sabha five times from Jodhpur and considered his stronghold. His son, Vaibhav Gehlot, lost the Jodhpur seat by 2.74 lakh votes to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The BJP won 24 of the 25 seats and its ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party secured one seat.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi had reportedly accused Ashok Gehlot, former Union minister P Chidambaram and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath of placing their sons above the party during the Lok Sabha polls during a Congress Working Committee meeting after the party’s poll debacle.
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