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Updated: Jun 04, 2019 13:59 IST

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has said that his deputy Sachin Pilot should take responsibility for the defeat of his son Vaibhav Gehlot from Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat.

Vaibhav, who was making his political debut from Jodhpur against sitting MP and union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, lost by over 3 lakh votes.

Ashok Gehlot, in an interview with ABP News, said there should be a postmortem of Congress performance in Rajasthan. “Sachin Pilot said we will win Jodhpur with comfortable margin as we have six MLAs in the constituency. Our campaign was good. I feel he (Sachin Pilot) should own responsibility for that seat (Jodhpur) at least,” Gehlot said.

Asked if Sachin Pilot had recommended Vaibhav’s name for the Jodpur seat, Ashok Gehlot said, “It’s a good thing if he says so. This will help dispel reports of differences between us.”

The BJP won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, less than six months after the Congress wrested power from Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government.

Also read: Ashok Gehlot accuses BJP of destabilising state governments of Opposition parties

Ashok Gehlot has come under fire after Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the Congress Working Committe meet had blamed some leaders for putting their sons above the party and reportedly expressed unhappiness at the Rajasthan CM spending a week in Jodhpur to campaign for his son and neglecting the state.

Officials close to the CM provided a list of public meetings addressed by Gehlot in Rajasthan during the Lok Sabha election campaign to claim that he addressed 104 rallies of which only 14 were in his son’s constituency, Jodhpur. The official also said that Gehlot participated in filing of nomination papers of 22 of the 25 Congress Lok Sabha candidates and visited every Lok Sabha constituency at least thrice.