As Sachin Pilot turns up heat on her ‘collusion’ with Gehlot, Vasundhara Raje hits back: ‘Can milk, lemon juice mix?

On most occasions, Gehlot and Raje — the protagonists, who have alternately ruled the state every five years since 1998 — choose to brush away the allegations. But earlier this month, after Gehlot’s arch-rival and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot accused the incumbent CM of sitting on alleged corruption cases from the previous Raje regime, the issue flared up once again, and has now turned into a flamethrowing contest between Raje and Pilot.

Earlier this month, Pilot said that he was quite “worried” about the lack of action in alleged corruption cases dating back to Raje’s tenure, and also insinuated that to “break this perception” that there is collusion between Gehlot and Raje, the former needs to act decisively in those corruption cases.

Later, Pilot sat on a day-long hunger strike on April 11, demanding action in the cases.

After initially remaining silent, Raje launched a scathing indirect attack on Pilot. “The age of lies is not long, and truth is immortal. Truth eventually comes out. These days, some people are promoting the same lie: ‘Wo toh mile hue hain (They are in collusion)’. How can the mind connect with those with whom principles don’t match, ideology doesn’t match, who use insulting allegations? Can milk and lemon juice be mixed? When such things come up, one should think,” Raje said recently, while speaking at a temple in Sriganganagar district.

Raje, whose speeches are often replete with religious symbolism, didn’t name Pilot. But it was clear who she had in mind when she proffered “advice for new politicians” in the same speech.

“Jab hum log naye, naye nikalte hain na, toh humare mein ek ahankar hota hai, jawani ka ek kism ka ahankar (When we are new to something, we have a sense of pride, a pride of the youth),” she said… As we age, we start understanding the ways of the world, what God wants and with whose blessings we need to work. This is seen the most in new politicians, who can’t stay away from this (pride). These days, if one gets a turmeric root, people think of themselves as a grocer. (They) don’t behave well with juniors and neither respect elders,” added Raje in her speech, going on to clarify that she wasn’t talking about anyone in the BJP, making it clear who she was talking about.
Gehlot incidentally has also often suggested at Pilot’s “youth” to take digs at him.

On Sunday, Pilot hit back against Raje. Like her, who didn’t name him in her speech, he too didn’t take the name of the former two-time CM.

“I heard there was a statement somewhere. I have not used the word collusion myself. Then why is there a need to give all these clarifications, like lemon, milk and water? We have raised the issue and we hope the government will take cognisance. Even though two weeks have passed… I hope the Congress party and our government… the time has come to take action since there is little time left,” Pilot said.

Speaking to The Indian Express last year, RLP supremo Beniwal had asked why the same bureaucrats enjoyed plum postings during the chief ministerial tenures of both Gehlot and Raje, and alleged that Raje had helped Gehlot during the 2020 political crisis in the state after Pilot rebelled against him.

Raje, who has few friends in the divided BJP, was also allowed by the Gehlot government to retain her government bungalow despite a court order.