Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on November 23 accused the Opposition BJP of hatching conspiracies to win the Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh by raking up the “red diary” issue and the Mahadev betting app case. Mr. Gehlot said an inquiry should be conducted by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to expose the conspiracy, as the BJP could not prove anything despite using the Central investigating agencies.
Addressing a press conference here on the last day of campaigning for the Rajasthan Assembly election, Mr. Gehlot said about 50 raids were conducted in the State, but no charges could be proved against any politician or bureaucrat. In Chhattisgarh, the conspiracy was aimed at arresting the Chief Minister but it failed, he added.
Mr. Gehlot said the BJP was in a “desperate condition” in Rajasthan after its failure to topple the State government by horse-trading. He said the BJP was giving full-page advertisements in newspapers containing news clippings of crime cases with the intention to mislead people and hatch new conspiracies.
Mr. Gehlot criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about Sachin Pilot being sidelined in Congress and said he was trying to instigate the State’s Gujjar community, comprising about 8% of the population. “Police firing on Gujjars took place during the BJP rule, in which 72 persons were killed. In the Congress regime, not even a lathi-charge was done and Gujjars received 5% reservation,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the number of people who had registered for the seven guarantees of Congress has crossed 1 crore. Leaders like the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States, who were touring Rajasthan during the election campaign, would not be seen after the polling day on November 25, he said.
