Outgoing Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s Officer on Special Duty, Lokesh Sharma, Sunday launched a scathing attack on the CM, blaming him for the defeat in the Assembly polls and said that his experience, magic and schemes could not bring the Congress back to power in the state.
Sharma, who was denied a ticket in the Assembly polls, launched an unexpected attack on the CM saying that Gehlot has once again brought the Congress to the margins.
Sharma accused Gehlot of “cheating the high command, not allowing correct feedback to reach the top, not allowing anyone to become an alternative, continuously taking wrong decisions and decisions out of narcissism while being surrounded by immature and selfish people, and ignoring all feedback and surveys”.
I am hurt by the results, but not surprised. Undoubtedly the rivaaj (tradition) could have been changed in the Congress in Rajasthan but Ashok Gehlot ji never wanted any change. This is not the defeat of Congress but of Ashok Gehlot ji,” he said on X.
लोकतंत्र में जनता ही माई-बाप है और जनादेश शिरोधार्य है, विनम्रता से स्वीकार है।
— Lokesh Sharma (@_lokeshsharma) December 3, 2023
मैं नतीजों से आहत जरूर हूँ, लेकिन अचंभित नहीं हूँ..
कांग्रेस पार्टी #Rajasthan में निःसंदेह रिवाज़ बदल सकती थी लेकिन अशोक गहलोत जी कभी कोई बदलाव नहीं चाहते थे। यह कांग्रेस की नहीं बल्कि अशोक गहलोत जी…
Sharma, who has been with the Congress for about 25 years, beginning with the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) way back in 1998, has been associated with Gehlot since 2012 when he took over the handling of his presence on digital platforms when Gehlot was CM in his earlier stint. While Gehlot lost power to the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje in 2013, Sharma continued, and held that role since – including into the Congress veteran’s latest stint in power.
“The party fought the elections under Gehlot’s leadership, giving him a free hand and according to him, he himself was contesting on every seat. Neither his experience nor magic worked and like every time, Congress did not win with the help of his plans nor did the immense pink campaign work,” he said, referring to the pink theme of Gehlot and Congress’s publicity campaign run by the private fire– DesignBoxed.
“While being a CM for the third time, Gehlot once again brought the party to the margins. Till date, he has only taken away from the party and has never been able to bring the party back to power during his tenure,” he said.
“Cheating with the high command, not allowing correct feedback to reach the top, not allowing anyone to become an alternative, continuously taking wrong decisions and decisions out of narcissism while being surrounded by immature and selfish people, ignoring all feedback and surveys, having his way and insisting on getting tickets for his favourite candidates despite their clear defeat,” Sharma said, were some of Gehlot’s attributes.
Today’s results were certain. I myself had told this to the Chief Minister earlier, had warned him many times but he did not want any advice or person with him who would tell the truth,” Sharma said.
“I travelled continuously for six months, went to the towns-villages-dhanis of Rajasthan, met people, organised dialogue programmes with thousands of youth, covered about 127 assembly constituencies and brought ground reports to the CM and kept them before him, without sugar-coating them. It was done so that corrective steps could be taken in time to ensure the comeback of the party,” he said.
He said that he had himself expressed his desire to contest the elections, first from Bikaner, and then on the request of the CM from Bhilwara, the seat where the Congress was losing for 20 years. “But he could not do a fresh experiment, and for (cabinet minister) B D Kalla ji, I had told 6 months ago that he would lose the election (from Bikaner West) by more than 20,000 votes and the same happened.”
Leading up to the elections, Sharma had been consolidating his support base across the state to propel him as a party candidate but was denied a ticket. The denial of ticket must have especially hurt Sharma since he had taken some heat on behalf of Gehlot during the 2020 political crisis, by sharing the audio leaks in which some BJP and Congress leaders were heard allegedly planning to topple the Gehlot government.
In March 2021, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had lodged an FIR against Sharma and others in Delhi on charges of criminal conspiracy and “unlawfully intercepting telegraphic signals (telephonic conversation)” and Sharma has appeared before Delhi Police at least five times for questioning so far.
On X, Sharma said that Gehlot took decisions in such a way that new faces could not be created and established in the party.
He also alleged that the September 25, 2022, Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meet – apparently called to empower high command to elect a new CM, said to have been Sachin Pilot – was boycotted by Gehlot “loyalists” but actually it was Gehlot himself who had sponsored it.
