‘BJP has already accepted defeat in Rajasthan polls’

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said the Opposition party had accepted defeat by giving tickets to seven MPs for the Assembly election. He said the Congress would return to power because of its welfare schemes, which had benefited large sections of the State’s population.

On his first death anniversary, Mr. Gehlot was at Sardarshahar in Churu district to unveil the statue of former Congress MLA the late Bhanwarlal Sharma. He said the BJP’s decision to field the sitting MPs as the candidates for the Assembly election was its “biggest failure” and proof that the party had already accepted defeat.

Mr. Gehlot said the BJP could not decide a Chief Ministerial face, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the party’s symbol, lotus, its face in the State. “Can a lotus become the Chief Minister? It is strange,” he said.

Referring to Mr. Modi’s repeated visits to the State during the Assembly polls run-up, the Chief Minister asked if he would come and open colleges and inaugurate new roads after the elections. “What will the Prime Minister do? The BJP has already accepted defeat here,” he said.

Mr. Gehlot indicated that the names of Congress candidates for the Nov. 25 Assembly election would be finalized soon, and the party’s first list of candidates would be released by Oct. 18.

The BJP released its first list comprising 41 candidates shortly after announcing the poll schedule on Oct. 9.