‘Conspiracy, insult’: Vasundhara Raje after Ashok Gehlot claims she saved his govt in 2020

BJP leader Vasundhara Raje on Sunday night hit out at Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot over his claim that she saved his Congress government from toppling in 2020, saying that Gehlot’s statement is a “conspiracy”. Raje alleged that the Rajasthan CM is “lying out of fear of losing the 2023 assembly elections”.

“Nobody can insult me as much as Gehlot has. He has made such false allegations as he is rattled by the rebellion in his own party,” Raje said.

Earlier on Sunday while addressing a programme in Rajasthan’s Dholpur, Gehlot claimed that Raje and two other BJP leaders helped him save his government during the 2020 crisis when some Congress MLAs revolted and tried to topple his government.

“Former Chief Ministers of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Shobha Rani, and Kailash Meghwal knew their party people were toppling the government. Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Kailash Meghwal had said that it has never been our tradition to topple the elected government on the basis of money. They did not support those who toppled the government due to which our government survived,” Gehlot said.

Targetting BJP, he added, “Amit Shah, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Gajendra Shekhawat conspired together and distributed the money inside the Rajasthan government.”

“…I advised our MLAs (who revolted) that even if some of the money taken has been spent by them, they should inform us. I will give you money and tell the AICC, but don’t take BJP’s money. If you will keep their money, they will scare you later, threaten you… They took away 25 MLAs,” the Rajasthan CM added.

In July 2020, Congress leader and then deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other party MLAs revolted against Gehlot’s leadership. The crisis lasted for nearly a month after the party’s high command intervened and removed Pilot as the deputy CM and state Congress chief.