Ashok Gehlot said, "Politics is done by multiplication and division". (FILE)
Days after a crisis in Rajasthan Congress, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said politics is all about "multiplication and division", and what is seen is seldom true and what is true is not seen.
The Chief Minister also took a jibe at the media, saying some organisations run news based on their perspective, which does not serve any purpose and also dents their credibility. "People have an extraordinary common sense and they understand everything," he told reporters.
"Politics is done by multiplication and division. In politics, sometimes, what is seen is not true and what is true is not seen," he said at a press conference on 'Invest Rajasthan', which will be held on October 7 and 8.
The political crisis in the state unfolded with the Congress's move move to hold a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting at the chief minister's residence on September 25. This meeting was seen as an exercise to change the chief minister prior to the election to choose the party president for which Mr Gehlot was the front runner.
The party had sent AICC General Secretary in-charge for Rajasthan Ajay Maken and the then leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who is now contesting the poll, as observers to hold the CLP meeting.
However, hours before the meeting, MLAs loyal to Mr Gehlot held a parallel meeting at Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal's residence against what they believed was a get together to make Sachin Pilot the new chief minister.
The MLAs skipped the CLP meeting and submitted their resignation to Speaker CP Joshi at his house. They demanded that the party choose someone from the 102 MLAs who supported Mr Gehlot during the political crisis in July 2020 as his replacement if he were to leave the post and become the party president.
The 2020 rebellion against Mr Gehlot was led by Mr Pilot, then the deputy chief minister, with 18 MLAs.
The CLP meeting did not take place.
Four days later, Mr Gehlot had met party president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and apologised to her for not being able to get a one-line resolution passed in the meeting. He took moral responsibility for the crisis and announced that he will not contest the president election.
After his return from Delhi, Mr Gehlot has however indicated through his style of functioning that he will continue as the chief minister, although an official decision is awaited.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)