BJP has ‘already accepted defeat’ in Rajasthan Assembly polls, says Gehlot

“Can a lotus become the Chief Minister? It is strange,” he said.

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said the Opposition party had accepted defeat by giving tickets to seven MPs for the Assembly election. He said the Congress would come back to power because of its welfare schemes which had benefited large sections of the State’s population.

Mr. Gehlot was at Sardarshahar in Churu district on Tuesday to unveil the statue of former Congress MLA, the late Bhanwarlal Sharma, on his first death anniversary. He said the BJP’s decision to field the sitting MPs as the candidates for Assembly election was its “biggest failure” and a proof that the party had already accepted defeat.

Mr. Gehlot said the BJP was unable to decide a Chief Ministerial face and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared the party’s symbol, lotus, as its face in the State. “Can a lotus become the Chief Minister? It is strange,” he said.

Making a reference to Mr. Modi’s repeated visits to the State in the run-up to the Assembly polls, the Chief Minister asked if he would come and open colleges and inaugurate new roads after the elections. “What will the Prime Minister do? The BJP has already accepted defeat here,” he said.

Mr. Gehlot indicated that the names of Congress candidates for the November 25 Assembly election would be finalised soon and the party’s first list of candidates would be released by October 18. The BJP released its first list comprising 41 candidates shortly after the announcement of the poll schedule on October 9.