Speaker Om Birla Secretly Campaigning For BJP: Ashok Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has accused Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota MP Om Birla of secretly campaigning for the BJP and urged him to be impartial.

Ashok Gehlot, while referring to the social security and welfare guarantees of his government, urged people to vote for the Congress government to continue development.

Ashok Gehlot was addressing a public meeting in favour of party candidate Shanti in Kota North on Tuesday.

''The member of the Parliament here is now secretly campaigning for his party and provoking the people while moving in parks and gardens and talking (with candidates) and calling them at his residence," Ashok Gehlot alleged while addressing a public meeting at the Thermal Circle.

"He is on a high (constitutional) post and is the Lok Sabha Speaker, why should he get involved in politics?" Ashok Gehlot asked.

"When there is parliamentary election, he should come out with his role and tell people he is a BJP person, but currently he is the Lok Sabha Speaker and he should be impartial," Ashok Gehlot said referring to Om Birla's visit to public parks.

Ashok Gehlot accused Om Birla of delaying the airport in Kota and claimed the state government had given land for this purpose.

Earlier in the day, Ashok Gehlot, accompanied by state Congress in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and party candidates the district, kicked off the "Guarantee Yatra" at the Ghatotkach Circle.

Sitting in the front of a bus, Ashok Gehlot did a roadshow during which people lined up on a few stretches of the road.

Ashok Gehlot urged people to allow him to continue to work as change of government "tends to stop all schemes." Ashok Gehlot said if he returns to power, his government would pass an Act for the Old Pension Scheme so that it could not be subjected to hurdles. and it is his seventh and the last guarantee. 

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