Rajasthan BJP Chief Compares Ashok Gehlot's Government With Taliban

Rajasthan BJP chief CP Joshi on Sunday compared Chief Minister Ashok Gehot-led Congress government with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and accused it of pursuing appeasement politics in the state.

Mr Joshi exuded confidence that the BJP would form the government with a historic mandate in the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections.

He alleged the chief minister is responsible for the ban on saffron flags in Udaipur, demolishing Ram Darbar in Sikar, and ensuring uninterrupted power supply on festivals of a community while depriving the other community of such facilities.

"Who is responsible for it? Is it Rajasthan or the Taliban? People cannot tolerate this. If someone is responsible for it then it is Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. People will not forget the way appeasement was done in the state," he told PTI video.

Mr Joshi claimed that the Congress government failed to fulfil the promises with which it had come to power in the state.

He said the people have lost trust in the Congress because it misled them.

The BJP leader said inflation is at its peak in Rajasthan due to increased corruption during the Congress government.

Petrol and diesel are costliest in the state and so is the vehicle tax, he alleged.

Mr Joshi said the Congress government had promised that it would not increase the power tariff during its tenure, but it burdened people by increasing other charges on power bills over a dozen times.

Refuting the charges, Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi said the BJP leaders are trying to mislead people by giving statements without facts.

He said the Congress government in the state has provided relief to people from inflation due to faulty policies of the Centre by organising inflation relief camps.

The government waived the farmers' loans taken from cooperative banks while the Centre did not take any step to waive off the loans taken from central cooperative and nationalised banks, Chaturvedi said in a statement.

The Congress leader said the state is in the second position in the country in terms of growth rate, adding the government has formed policies to provide relief to all sections of society.

The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will go to polls on November 25 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3. 

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