"Sachin Pilot Should Have Apologised": Ashok Gehlot To NDTV

Describing his former deputy repeatedly as a "gaddar (traitor)", Mr Gehlot, 71, said if Sachin Pilot had apologised to Rajasthan MLAs and won them over, it would have been different.

Sachin Pilot should have apologised for his 2020 revolt and because he didn't, he can't be accepted as Chief Minister by Rajasthan Congress MLAs, Ashok Gehlot said in an explosive interview to NDTV.

Describing his former deputy repeatedly as a "gaddar (traitor)", Mr Gehlot, 71, said if Sachin Pilot had apologised to Rajasthan MLAs and won them over, it would have been different.

"Till now he has not apologised. If he had apologised, I would not have had to apologise," Mr Gehlot said, referring to his conversation with Sonia Gandhi after more than 90 MLAs close to him defied the party on choosing his replacement to enable his shift to Delhi as Congress president.

The MLAs had refused to attend a party meeting in September, weeks before the Congress president election, and had declared they would not accept Sachin Pilot as Chief Minister and that whoever became Congress president (ie Mr Gehlot) should have the final vote.