Cong Infighting: Gehlot Asks Pilot to Take Onus of Son’s Defeat

Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav lost the Jodhpur seat by 2.7 lakh votes to BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

File image of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (R) with Deputy CM Sachin Pilot. 

(Photo: PTI)

In what can be seen as a case of infighting in the Rajasthan state unit of the Congress, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said that the state party chief and his deputy in the government Sachin Pilot should take responsibility for his son Vaibhav Gehlot's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

Vaibhav Gehlot lost the Jodhpur seat lost by 2.7 lakh votes to BJP's Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, as the Congress suffered a second successive clean sweep in Lok Sabha polls, despite wresting the state Assembly in December last year.

In an interview to ABP News, Gehlot said, “Sachin Pilot said we would win with a huge majority. He said we have six MLAs (legislators) and we have done very good campaigning there... Sachin Pilot should take responsibility for at least that (Jodhpur) seat.”

"He said that we were winning (from Jodhpur) and that he got the party ticket (for Vaibhav). But we lost all 25 seats," Gehlot further added.

However, in the same interview, he also said the responsibility for the poll debacle should be "collective".

“If someone wins, everyone wants credit, but if there is a loss, no one is ready to take responsibility. Elections are held under collective leadership,” he said.

The rift between Gehlot and Pilot has been simmering since Congress won the Rajasthan Assembly elections, following which both the leaders were in contention to bag the CM’s post. Eventually, Gehlot pipped Pilot, but reports of a feud between the two camps have been frequent since then.