In an apparent rebuttal to his former deputy, Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said the Congress returned to power in 2018 because of the work done by him in his previous dispensation.
As he said this, he set the target of winning 156 seats in the assembly election due later this year. Pilot, who has been locked in a power tussle with Gehlot for long, had recently said the return of Congress to power was due to the struggle of the party leaders and workers from 2013 to 2018, when he was the PCC chief.
In one of the public programmes, Pilot also spoke about the need for the older lot to make way for the younger generation of leaders.
Pilot has repeatedly said that the number of Congress MLAs, which had been reduced to 21 in 2013, was shot up only after the party high command made him the Pradesh Congress Committee chief in the state.
Gehlot, without naming Pilot, said the 2013 rout was largely because of the ‘Modi wave’ but within six months of the BJP government in state, people had realised their mistake. “So an atmosphere was created and that was a big reason for the Congress to come back. Other reasons are there, such as the party workers’ struggle on the streets”, he said.