Congress CM Ashok Gehlot Blames Sachin Pilot For His Son’s Lok Sabha Defeat, Demands Complete Postmortem

Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress party leader Ashok Gehlot on Monday (3 June) launched a salvo on state’s Deputy Chief Minister and the party’s state unit chief Sachin Pilot. Gehlot asserted that Pilot must own up responsibility for his son, Vaibhav Gehlot's defeat from the Jodhpur Lok Sabha constituency, reports Times of India.

According to the report, Gehlot, in an interview, said that it was Pilot who suggested him that the party would win in Jodhpur with a big margin because they had six MLAs in the constituency and their poll campaign had been fabulous.

“So, I feel he should own responsibility for that seat (Jodhpur) at least. There should be a complete post-mortem of the (result in) Jodhpur seat to find out why we did not win it,” Gehlot was quoted in the report as saying.

On the question of if Gehlot believes that Pilot was responsible for the defeat in Jodhpur, the Rajasthan CM said that Pilot was certain about registering a win in Jodhpur and that he got party ticket for Vaibhav. "But we lost all 25 seats. if someone says that the CM or the Pradesh Congress Committee chief should take responsibility for it, I believe it’s a collective responsibility," Gehlot added.

As per the report, Gehlot's words against Pilot gain significance as he was being attacked by Pilot loyalists, who had publicly stated in the last few days that the CM's style of functioning was the reason behind Congress party's poor performance in the state, given the party failed to register a win in any of the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.