Jaipur, Dec 3 (IANS): Lokesh Sharma, the OSD to Ashok Gehlot, on Sunday launched a scathing attack against the outgoing Chief Minister by holding him solely responsible for Congress' debacle in the Assembly elections, the results of which were announced on Sunday.
The BJP swept the polls by winning 115 seats in the 199-member Assembly to oust the Congress, which was reduced to just 69 seats.
“I am hurt by the results, but not surprised. Congress could have undoubtedly changed the customs in #Rajasthan, but Ashok Gehlot ji never wanted any change. This is not the defeat of Congress, but of Ashok Gehlot ji.
“The party fought the elections under Gehlot's leadership, giving him a free hand and according to him, he himself was contesting on every seat. Neither his experience, nor magic worked. Congress did not win with the help of his plans, nor did the immense ‘pink' campaign work.
"Despite being a three-time CM, Gehlot brought the party down. Till date, he has only taken from the party, but has never been able to help the Congress retain power in the state,” Sharma said.
And Sharma didn't stop here as he went on to use phrases like “cheating with the high command", "not allowing correct feedback to reach the top", "not allowing anyone to become an alternative", "continuously taking wrong decisions out of narcissism", "being surrounded by immature and selfish people", "ignoring all feedback and surveys", "allotting tickets to his favourite candidates", etc. to target the outgoing Chief Ministers.
“The results which came out today were certain. I myself had told this to the Chief Minister earlier, I had warned him many times, but he did not listen... In fact, he didn't like any person who told the truth,” Sharma said.
It needs to be mentioned here that Sharma wanted to contest the polls from Bikaner, but Gehlot had emphasised that state Education Minister B.D. Kalla should seek renomination from the seat.
Sharma had also asked for a ticket from Bhilwara, but was denied.
"I traveled continuously for six months, met people, organised dialogue programmes with thousands of youth, covered about 127 Assembly constituencies and submitted ground reports to the CM.
"I put all the details on the table so that decisions could be made by taking corrective steps on time... I myself had expressed my desire to contest the elections, first from Bikaner and then on the request of the CM from Bhilwara, the seat where we were losing for 20 years.
"But he was in no mood for an experiment. And for B.D. Kalla ji, I had told six months ago that he would lose the elections by more than 20,000 votes, and that's what happened," said Sharma.