Gehlot agrees to take back rebels if Cong forgives

Jaisalmer/Jaipur, Aug. 1: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the alleged attempt to topple his government stopped and said he is open to welcoming back the Congress rebels led by Sachin Pilot.

Asked if the dissidents will be forgiven, he said, “It depends on the party high command. If the party high command forgives, I shall embrace them.” Since the power tussle between him and Sachin Pilot resurfaced last month, the Congress veteran has used harsh words against his former deputy, once even referring to him as ‘nikamma’ or useless.

But Gehlot said he will do whatever the Congress leadership wants. He said the party trusted him and he has been a Union minister, AICC general secretary, state unit president and chief minister for a third time. “What else do I want? I am doing this to serve the public,” he told reporters in Jaisalmer.

The Chief Minister was on his way back to Jaipur after an overnight stay at Jaisalmer’s Suryagarh resort, where loyalist MLAs have been shifted ahead of the Assembly Session from August 14.

The Congress has accused the BJP of playing a major role in the rebellion by the now sacked deputy chief minister and 18 other Congress MLAs who are threatening his government.

“We have no personal quarrel with anyone. In a democracy, fights happen over ideology, policies and programmes and not for toppling a government. “Modi should get the drama which is going on in Rajasthan ended,” the CM said outside the hotel where the MLAs were shifted Friday.

Mr Gehlot said Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat should quit on moral grounds, claiming that his involvement in a “conspiracy” to topple the Rajasthan government is now known.

● THE RAJASTHAN CM said he will do whatever the Congress leadership wants. He said the party trusted him with various positions and he became CM for the third time