The flagging off of a Vande Bharat Express train between Delhi and Ajmer by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday turned out be political as Modi called Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot a “friend” and thanked him for attending the launch event even though “he is going through a political tussle in the State”.

Modi’s remark didn’t go down well with Gehlot, who termed the remarks as “unfortunate”. Gehlot said his comments were made with an eye on the coming Assembly and general elections.

In an obvious reference to senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s day-long fast in Jaipur on Tuesday despite a warning by the Congress, Modi said in his speech, “I express my special gratitude to Gehlot ji. During these days of political struggle when he is going through several crises, he took out the time for development work and participated in a railway programme. I welcome him.”

During his address at the launch event, Gehlot raised demands related to the railways in Rajasthan, and mentioned that for the first time since independence, the Union Railway Minister is from the State.

The Prime Minister told Gehlot that his trust in him gives strength to their “friendship”.  “I thank you for the trust you have in this friendship,” he told the Congress leader. “The work that should have been done immediately after independence had not been done till now. But you have so much faith in me that you have given me that task today,” Modi said.

Referring to the Railway Minister and the chairman of the Railway Board both being from Rajasthan, the Prime Minister said, “And I want to say Gehlot ji that you have laddoos in both your hands... The Railway Minister is from Rajasthan and the chairman of the Railway Board is also from Rajasthan.” This is the second time in five months that Modi has “praised” Gehlot.

Gehlot said it was not fair to say the development of the national transporter happened only after 2014.”Today, your speech was given completely keeping in view the 2023-24 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections and it was in the form of the election agenda of the BJP. I believe that such comments will not be acceptable to the people of the State and the country,” the Rajasthan Chief Minister said.

He said in a statement it was “unfortunate” that the Prime Minister talked about the decisions taken during the tenure of earlier Railway Ministers as being influenced by corruption and political considerations.

Gehlot said if the modern train is able to run today, it is because of Manmohan Singh, who as the Finance Minister did economic liberalisation in 1991 and gave new technology an opportunity to develop India.

Gehlot also named former Railway Ministers in his statement such as Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram, Sardar Swaran Singh, Gulzari Lal Nanda, K Hanumanthaiya, Lalit Narayan Mishra, Kamlapati Tripathi, Madhu Dandavate, PC Sethi, ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, Mohsina Kidwai, Madhavrao Scindia, George Fernandes, Janeshwar Mishra, CK Jafarsharif, Ram Vilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar, Ram Nayak, Mamata Banerjee and Mallikarjun Kharge.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also shared a clip of parts of the speeches of Modi and Gehlot. In the caption, he said even Gehlot knows that only Modi will get the work done. Gehlot urged Vaishnaw to connect the headquarters of Banswara, Tonk, Karauli with the railways.

The Vande Bharat launch function was organised at the Jaipur junction railway station. It was also attended by Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra among others. The regular service of this new Vande Bharat train will start from April 13 and will operate between Ajmer and Delhi Cantonment with stops in Jaipur, Alwar and Gurgugram.