Replace Gehlot with Pilot as CM: Rajasthan Congress dissent goes public

Jaipur, June 05: Amid the rift in the Rajasthan Congress over the Lok Sabha debacle, a party MLA Wednesday said Ashok Gehlot should be replaced with his deputy Sachin Pilot as the state chief minister.

Todabhim MLA Prithviraj Meena said the chief minister should bear the responsibility for the election drubbing after the party failed to bag any of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

"A chief minister is responsible for an election defeat when the party is in power and when it is in the opposition, the responsibility lies with the party president," Meena told reporters at the party office here.

The MLA, however, said it was his individual opinion that Sachin Pilot should be made the CM.

On Tuesday, Meena had expressed displeasure over Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's remarks in a TV interview that his deputy and state Congress chief Sachin Pilot should take responsibility for his son Vaibhav Gehlot's defeat from Jodhpur, suggesting that it was against the interest of the party.

Of the 25 in the state, the BJP won 24 and its alliance partner Rashtriya Loktantrik Party won one in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections.