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Journalism of Courage
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday countered former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot’s potshots at him saying that PM did not praise him but merely shared facts, and that he doesn’t have any internal challenges within the party.
Talking to journalists in Baran, the CM, asked about internal challenges in the party, said: “There are no challenges. In politics, every person has some ambition, hum kyun bura maanein (why should we mind it?). Every person has ambition and should have it too. The difference is in approach; I don’t want to say anything more, just that we all should fight and win the next elections together as this is in the public interest not just for Rajasthan, but for the country.”
On Wednesday former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot had said: “The statements given by the Prime Minister yesterday (on Gehlot), his praises… I believe it’s very interesting, because the Prime Minister had praised Ghulam Nabi Azad similarly in Parliament, and we all saw what happened. I find it interesting but it must not be taken lightly.”
Asked about this “praise”, Gehlot said: “What praise? He shared facts. He did not talk about my performance. I would have considered it praise if he would have agreed to my requests.”
Gehlot said he had three requests for the PM, none of which were considered by him; first being declaration of Mangarh Dham as a national monument, second being a railway project from Ratlam to Dungarpur via Banswara, and third being a nationwide implementation of the state government’s Chiranjeevi Health scheme.
He said had the PM considered his requests “then I would have agreed that he was praising me. He (PM Modi) said that among the lot of Chief Ministers (during his term as CM), he (Gehlot) was the senior; and today too, he is the senior-most among the CMs. He shared facts. I don’t consider this as praise”.
Gehlot added: “I showed him the mirror, that you have ghamand (haughty) that you are a very popular Prime Minister in the world. So wherever you go, you are respected because you are from Gandhi’s country.”
In his address at Mangarh Dham, where Gehlot had shared stage with Modi, the Rajasthan CM had said: “When PM Modi goes abroad, he gets immense respect… because he is the PM of the country of Gandhi, where the roots of democracy are strong and deep, and where democracy is alive even after 70 years.”
