With all the Exit Polls predicting the victory of Congress in the Rajasthan assembly elections, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Friday said that he would love to work at whatever position the “high command” of the party will decide for him, Senior Congress Leader further said while talking to ANI that he is not keeping the Chief Minister post as his priority.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is reportedly the frontrunner for the Congress party`s chief ministerial candidate alongside Congress State Chief Sachin Pilot.
On Asking about the same, Gehlot told ANI: “My wishes do not make a difference here. In my life, there is no priority with respect to any post now. Now people need Congress. How will we make Congress a strong party? We currently have 21 seats in Rajasthan assembly and 44 seats in Lok Sabha. Our responsibility right now should be that rather than running behind or demanding a particular post, we should work on whatever position the party will decide for us so that the party can gain from it. Given the position at which Congress currently stands, it will be good to see how we can raise the party flag in the country.”
“I will continue to serve the people of Rajasthan at any position. There is no weight in BJP`s campaigning. They announced the chief ministerial candidates during elections in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana also. The Chief Minister candidate will be announced by the party high command after looking at what the MLAs and local people want. Since Independence, Congress has never revealed it before elections. BJP is making an issue out of this, but it`s not correct,” he added.
Ashok Gehlot who was confident of forming the government in that state also stated that he won`t be surprised if Party wins close to 150 seats.
“India can see that the next government in Rajasthan will be of the Congress party. The exit polls tell the same. During his rallies across India, Rahul Gandhi had exposed the BJP and showed how all their promises were false. The people have been betrayed and their (BJP`s) graph has also come down. Also, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje hasn`t done any work in the state. Despite winning in the last elections with a big mandate, Raje didn`t even go out to meet the public. She didn`t attend any public meetings. People were strongly against her,” Gehlot said.
“The exit poll results are exactly the same what we had expected. Party internal assessment was also closed to it. We won`t be surprised if we get close to 150 seats and they get restricted to 50 or even below that,” he added.
The Polling in 199 seats out of 200 was held on December 7, Friday that registered over 72% total voter turnout. Voting in one seat at Alwar’s Ramgarh was postponed in the wake of the death of BSP Candidate. Election Commission is expected to issue a new date for polling in the Ramgarh Constituency.
The Counting of Votes will take place on December 11 along with other state assembly elections.
(With Inputs from ANI)
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