‘No anti-government wave in state’: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot
Rajasthan: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday claimed that their is no anti-government wave in the state and people are willing to bring his government back next time. He reached Haryana’s Nuh to take part in Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra. He asserted Congress’ win in the next assembly election in the state after his party marked the completion of four years of government on Sunday.
“The atmosphere in Rajasthan is such that there is no anti-government wave in the state and people are in the mood to repeat the government this time,” Gehlot told news agency ANI.
Retaining the state will be crucial for the grand old party which has faced heavy electoral losses since 2014 when the BJP was elected to power at the Centre. Gehlot reassured earlier that his government will continue the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) as he stressed that the right to decide on pension rests upon the state government.
The Rajasthan government recently announced that it will provide 12 cooking gas cylinders each year to poor households at a subsidised rate of ₹500 under Ujjwala scheme, starting April 1 next year. Following this, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and suggested him to run the initiative in line with the Rajasthan government and stop ‘feeding sweets to people’.
The infighting in Congress in Rajasthan yet again caught attention in recent months when Gehlot loyalists had threatened to resign in September over speculation of Sachin Pilot being chosen as his replacement if Gehlot was picked as the Congress president. Gehlot later dropped out of the race for the top party post.
Last month, the Chief Minister’s “gaddar” (traitor) comment against Pilot in an interview to NDTV had yet again brought differences to the fore. Both the leaders were later photographed together as the grand old party insisted the house was in order.