Fighting For A Chair: Vasundhara Raje On Rajasthan Congress Rift

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday said the fight between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot is a fight for a chair and the people of the state are suffering because of it.

Referring to the tussle between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, Ms Raje said Mr Gehlot accuses BJP of taking over other governments, but the truth is that the governments he formed in 2008 and 2018 were also formed by manipulation.

The Ashok Gehlot government was in minority then and it is in minority now, she said.

"The MLAs of his party are against him, his ministers keep talking about something or the other in protest every day," said the BJP leader while addressing the 'Booth Maha Sammelan' in Bharatpur in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Corruption is rampant and atrocities on Dalits and women are high in the state, and so is unemployment, Ms Raje said.

Pilot recently held a daylong fast demanding action from the Gehlot government in the alleged corruption cases that took place in the former BJP government led by Ms Raje.

Addressing the booth workers, Ms Raje talked about the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), which, she said, was envisaged under her government to address the water problem in 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan, from Kota to Alwar, including Bharatpur.

But Mr Gehlot did nothing for the project except making statements, she said.

Mr Gehlot has repeatedly demanded from the central government to give ERCP the national project status, considering the high cost involved in it and said that it will go ahead with the project even if his request is rejected by the Centre.

During his address, Amit Shah called Ms Raje a considerate leader and attacked the Ashok Gehlot government alleging it has crossed all limits of appeasement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)