Amethi: Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has claimed that the Congress is going to win parliamentary seats in double digits in his state and exuded confidence that an INDIA bloc government would be formed at the Centre as "winds of change" were blowing in the country.
In an interview with PTI here, Gehlot also hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark that the Congress will get fewer seats in the Lok Sabha polls than "the age of its shehzada", saying such "jumlebaazi" will not work as people have understood that the limit to the BJP's "lies" has been reached.
"In the whole country, the message has gone that an INDIA bloc government is going to be formed. The first three phases (of the polls) have shown that this is the situation," the veteran Congress leader, who is here as the senior AICC observer for the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, said.
Asked specifically about Rajasthan where polling was over in the first two phases of the polls for the 25 seats there, Gehlot said the Congress is going to do very well in his home state and pointed out that since the polls have begun, Rajasthan is being discussed in the media for this very reason.
"People of Rajasthan are remembering the schemes of our government. The BJP government has closed them down or is diluting them, so there is a major reaction to that," Gehlot said. The Congress had lost the assembly polls in Rajasthan last year as it bagged 70 seats against the BJP's 115. The Congress drew a blank in the state in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Gehlot alleged that the BJP won the assembly polls by resorting to lies. "In the Kanhaiya Lal murder case. We caught the culprits within two hours. The culprits could have run away to Nepal or any other place. We went to the house of the victim, offered our condolences, caught the culprits, and people appreciated that," the former Rajasthan chief minister said.
"For the first time a package of Rs 50 lakh was given to any family. We also gave jobs to two children from that family. The NIA took over the case but nothing has happened, no one knows what happened to the case," Gehlot said. He claimed that his government was "falsely maligned" that it gave only Rs 5 lakhs to the family in the Kanhaiya Lal case while giving Rs 50 lakh to a Muslim victim's family in another case.
"This was made viral on social media. All this has become clear before the people. That is why I have said that I think this time, we are going to win seats in double digits in Rajasthan," Gehlot told PTI on Sunday night. Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was hacked to death in Udaipur in 2022.
Asked about Modi's remarks that the Congress will get fewer seats in the Lok Sabha polls than "the age of its shehzada", Gehlot said, "The answer to that is that there was a time when Modi ji used to say something and people used to accept that but now those times have changed."
"They (BJP) started with '400 paar', 'phir ek baar Modi sarkaar' and then the BJP and its candidates have disappeared. People understood why they were talking of '400 paar' and looking to change the Constitution," he said. Allegations are already being made that the BJP is "destroying" the Constitution, democracy is in danger, the big "scam" of electoral bonds has come to the fore, and the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and the Income Tax Department are being misused by them with two sitting CMs put in jail, Gehlot said.
Gehlot also pointed out how the Congress' accounts were frozen and how all this had brought a bad name for the country. "All these moves of the BJP turned people against them. There is a change in the situation now, so Modi ji is saying anything now, from mangalsutra, Congress will take your 'bhains' to our manifesto being of Muslim League," Gehlot.
The former Rajasthan CM also hit out at the prime minister over his recent remarks in an election rally that why Rahul Gandhi had stopped taking the names of Adani and Ambani in his attacks. Modi had also wondered whether Gandhi had received money from these industrialists.
"He (Modi) even made the Adani-Ambani reference. If he has said this, then he should get the CBI to register a case and conduct an inquiry. A case was registered when women had met Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and told him what had happened with them. The Delhi Police registered a case and came to get his statement. Satyapal Malik flagged a scam of Rs 120 crore, CBI went after him. Here Modi ji is himself saying that tempo loads of black money has been given (to the Congress). What the PM says is important, so a case should be registered but nothing is happening," Gehlot said.
"So all this that Modi ji is saying that the Congress will not get more seats than Rahul Gandhi's age, this 'jumlebaazi' will not work," he added. On how many seats the Congress and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will get, Gehlot said he cannot predict the number of seats at this juncture but asserted that people have made up their minds for change and were fed up with the BJP's false allegations.
"Winds of change are blowing and there is an undercurrent. That is why their (the BJP's situation is such that even in Gujarat many seats are in danger for them," he claimed. Gehlot also agreed that there were a number of silent voters in this election. "Their (the BJP's) own voters are not coming out to vote. They also know that so many lies will not work and an extreme has been reached in peddling lies," Gehlot said.
Asked about the Supreme Court granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and whether that will be a boost for the INDIA bloc, the Congress leader said it was a big thing that the court has given bail to a chief minister just for campaigning in accordance with the Constitution.
"He is the head of a political party, charges have not been framed against him, there is no evidence against him, what decision is made in the case is a matter for later. You could either have arrested him earlier or after polls but he was arrested right before polls. They arrested (then Jharkhand CM) Hemant Soren, froze the back accounts of the Congress. The BJP's situation has deteriorated because of these sequence of events I have talked about," Gehlot said.
People have understood that it is now the limit, he said. On the question of an INDIA bloc prime minister, Gehlot said such decisions would be taken by the alliance after June 4 and he does not want to comment on it.
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