Media making unnecessary issue: Ashok Gehlot clarifies his remarks on Sachin Pilot over poll debacle

After facing flack from Rajasthan Congress leaders for his statement that state unit president Sachin Pilot should take responsibility for his son Vaibhav Gehlot's election defeat, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has issued a clarification saying the media was making an ‘unnecessary issue’ out of it.

"This was a reply to some questions during the interview. Some sections of the media are making an unnecessary issue out of the context," the chief minister tweeted. 

He shared a clipping of the interview on his Twitter account Tuesday.

"Confusion is being created in the media that there are differences between the state Congress chief and the CM. But if Pilot says that he had promised a ticket to Vaibhav from Jodhpur, then where are the differences between us?" the CM added. 

Rifts in the Rajasthan Congress came to the fore after Gehlot, in an interview to ABP News, suggested that the state unit president should bear responsibility for the Congress loss in Jodhpur as he got Vaibhav Gehlot the party ticket from there.

Gehlot said Pilot had assured a win by a big margin for his son.

"We have six MLAs there. We carried out a fantastic campaign. I understand that Pilot sahab should at least take the responsibility of the seat. A complete post-mortem should be done for the Jodhpur seat," he said.

Vaibhav Gehlot had lost to BJP's Gajendra Singh Shekhawat by a margin of 2.74 lakh votes. After the Lok Sabha results, Gehlot faced criticism that he focused more on his son, ignoring other seats.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders of the state criticized the Chief Minister for his statement saying he himself should take responsibility for the defeat of his son.    

"The statement by the chief minister is totally wrong and against the interest of the party. He himself should take responsibility for the Jodhpur seat," Congress MLA Prithviraj Meena said. 

Reacting to Gehlot's comments, Rajendra Chaudhary, a Congress leader from Jodhpur, said Gehlot's word was final in decisions regarding that constituency.

"The statement is surprising. Gehlot should take the responsibility for the Jodhpur seat because it has been his domain for 40 years," he said.

With PTI Inputs