Nothing can be more exciting than a contest between Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the upcoming elections. BJP is mulling over fielding Shekhawat in Gehlot's home borough Saradarpura.
Shekhawat, a two-time member of parliament, also comes from Jodhpur of which Sardarpura is a part.
“If the contest is set, both the parties – going without CM face – will have no option but to reward the winner with chief minister post after this high voltage contest,” said a BJP insider.
Contesting against Gehlots is not new to Shekhawat. He had contested the Lok Sabha election against Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot in 2019 which he (Shekhawat) won by a margin of over 2.8 lakh votes.The impact of victory was such that Shekhawat even led from Sardarpura assembly segment.
“Ever since Ashok Gehlot has been in attacking mode against Shekhawat. There has been war of words between two and it has stooped down to such a level that Shekhawat had to file a defamation suit against Gehlot. The trial is still on. Gehlot has been aggressive on Shekhawat over the ERCP project also where Gehlot accuses jal Shakti minister of deliberately not including the project in national project list,” said Rakesh Singh, a political observer.
Gehlot, a five time MLA from Sardapura and also a five time MP from Jodhpur had lost elections twice – once from Sardarpura in assembly elections and second time from Jodhpur in parliamentary election in 1989. Jaswant Singh had defeated him.
Why this kolaveri between Gehlot and Shekhawat
Ashok Gehlot, who is known to be ‘soft' to his opponents, has been harsh on Shekhawat ever since he defeated Vaibhav Gehlot.
The bitterness grew when Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was said to be allegedly trying to topple Gehlot's government with the help of Congress MLAs. During that period, audio clips of alleged telephonic conversations between Gajendra Singh and Congress leaders surfaced amidst a rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot by his the then deputy Sachin Pilot and 18 party MLAs supporting him.
It was alleged that Lokesh Sharma circulated the audio clips purportedly having the conversation about a conspiracy to topple the Congress government.
On the basis of the audio clips, Congress leader Mahesh Joshi had lodged complaints with the SOG and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Rajasthan Police but the FIR did not mention that Gajendra Singh referred to in a clip was Union minister Shekhawat.
Shekhawat on the other hand had also filed FIR against Gehlot's OSD Lokesh Sharma. The investigation is going on in this case.
Sanjivani Scam
The relationship further took ugly turn when Gehlot accused Shekhawat and his family including his departed mother to be involved in Rs 900 crore Sanjivani cooperative scam where promoters have siphoned of money from poor depositors. Shekhawat has filed a defamation case against Gehlot which is in progress in Delhi court.
ERCP issue
Gehlot has accused jal shakti minister for not pursuing Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) and including it in the list of national project. He has blamed him for non-start of the project, which is likely to meet the water requirements of people of 13 districts. There has been regular war of words between the two on this issue.
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