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Ashok Gehlot upset over Vasundhara’s remark

JAIPUR: Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot has taken umbrage at some of the remarks made by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in Sikar three days ago about Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar and the farmers who had agitated for irrigation water in the Indira Gandhi Canal Project area.

Ms. Raje, who is on a four-day tour of the Shekhawati region as part of her State-wide “Vijay Sankalp Yatra”, had questioned the purpose of Mr. Jakhar’s visit to Neem Ka Thana prior to her public programme there on Wednesday.

“It is condemnable. Mr. Jakhar has every right to go to Neem Ka Thana or any place he likes. It was undesirable on the part of Ms. Raje to make such a remark about a Governor and senior public figure,” said Mr. Gehlot talking to mediapersons here.

Ms. Raje had questioned the visit of Mr. Jakhar to Neem Ka Thana, a part of his former Sikar Lok Sabha constituency, hinting that the latter was there to generate public opinion against her meeting in the town.

Mr. Gehlot also questioned Ms. Raje’s observation at the public meeting held in Sikar that the Government had “broken the back of the liquor and water mafia” and would take strong action against the land mafia in the area.

“Referring to the farmers who had agitated for irrigation water as mafia is highly objectionable. The farmers were fighting for their right when the police opened fire killing half-a-dozen of them,” said Mr. Gehlot.

“Earlier, too, while the agitation was on, Ms. Raje had referred to the farmers as a ‘bunch of anti-social elements’. If they were anti-socials, why did the Government negotiate with their leaders held in confinement in Ajmer Jail and later in Jaipur.” Mr. Gehlot, who termed Ms. Raje’s “Vijay Sankalp Yatra” a poor show, said the “intemperate language” used by her in her public addresses only betrayed her sense of uneasiness over the poor response to her tour and the huge success of the tribal rally addressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Baneshwar a week earlier.

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