Berth pangs: Gehlot advisor Ramkesh Meena attacks Pilot

In the cabinet expansion, Independents have been kept out while only one out of six BSP MLAs who merged with Congress, Rajendra Singh Gudha, has been adjusted in the cabinet.

Meena said that it was Independents and those from the BSP who helped the party through the crisis last year and proved their loyalty. “So, he’s (Pilot) stoking a fresh controversy by not counting those with Congress background (who won as Independents) and have supported Congress,” Meena said.

During 2018 Assembly polls, Meena said his ticket was cut by Pilot, who was the state party chief then, and this cost the party dearly. “Pilot repeatedly talks of loyal workers. So, if you took at the background of Independents, they have also given their blood and sweat for the Congress party in their regions. So perhaps Pilot ji doesn’t know about this. Because Pilot ji stepped out of national politics and became the state president here,” he said.

He said that Congress party could have got over 150 seats in 2018 if tickets of about “42-45 persons” weren’t cut by Pilot and that most of them didn’t contest while some like him contested and won.

“In Sawai Madhopur, when no one was ready to work for Congress, my daughter-in-law was the Zila Pramukh and we got four pradhans of Congress elected. We kept Congress alive aur humara he ticket sabsey pehle unhone wahan se kata (and mine was the first ticket he cut [in 2018]),” said Meena, who is an MLA from Gangapur in Sawai Madhopur.

“I want to ask him, what was the reason for my ticket being cut? I have asked it twenty times, but I have never got an answer. He was the one who cut my ticket and spoke as much, that he won’t give me a ticket,” he alleged.