JAIPUR: Days after Congress suffered a complete rout in the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan, the infighting within the party’s state unit intensified further on Monday when chief minister Ashok Gehlot insisted that Pradesh Congress Committee chief and his deputy in the government, Sachin Pilot , take responsibility for his son, Vaibhav Gehlot’s, defeat from his stronghold, Jodhpur .Pilot expressed surprise at Gehlot’s statement, but refused to further comment when TOI contacted him over phone.In an interview to ABP News, when asked whether it was true that Pilot had recommended Vaibhav’s name for the Jodhpur seat, Gehlot said: “It’s a good thing if he (Pilot) says so. This dispels media reports about differences between the two of us.”In the same breath, he added, “Pilot saab also said that we will win Jodhpur with a big margin, (because) we have six MLAs (in the LS constituency) and our poll campaign was fabulous. So, I feel he should own responsibility for that seat at least. There should be a complete post-mortem of the (result in) Jodhpur seat to find out why we did not win it.”When asked if he truly believed that the defeat in Jodhpur was Pilot’s responsibility, the CM replied, “He said that we were winning (from Jodhpur) and that he got the party ticket (for Vaibhav). But we lost all 25 seats. If someone says that the CM or the PCC chief should take responsibility for it, I believe it’s a collective responsibility.”Gehlot’s broadside against his deputy comes in the wake of attacks on him by Pilot loyalists who have publicly said in the last few days that the CM’s style of functioning was the reason for Congress’s rout in the state.In the interview, Gehlot insisted that everyone has to take the blame of the rout. “If someone wins, everyone wants credit but if there is a loss, no one is ready to take responsibility. Elections are held under collective leadership,” he said.Vaibhav lost to Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. Even in the Sardapura assembly segment, which has been Gehlot’s seat since 1998 when he first became CM, Vaibhav trailed by nearly 19,000 votes.Congress’s defeat in Jodhpur is shocking as Gehlot had represented the seat five times in the Lok Sabha.