Gehlot blames Covid-19 for panchayat poll loss

The BJP, which has broken the trend of the ruling party winning most seats in Rajasthan's local elections, appears set to corner the lion's share of seats in the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad elections held in Rajasthan's 21 districts. However, Chief Minister Gehlot has claimed covid-19 as the reason for the loss.

New Delhi/Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday blamed Covid-19 for the party's loss in the panchayat polls, saying the results were not as per the Congress' expectation.

Gehlot said in a statement, "The results of the district council and panchayat polls are not as per our expectation. For the past nine months, our government was involved in Covid management and our priority was to save lives and livelihoods of the people."

"Due to coronavirus, we could not publicise our works while the opposition misled the people. But we will give a befitting reply to the opposition, considering the feedback from the people," he added.

In a major setback to the Congress in Rajasthan, the opposition BJP swept 1,911 seats in the recently held panchayat samiti elections while the ruling party was limited to 1,781 seats. The Independents won 425 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party got 3 seats while the CPI-M captured 16 seats in the elections while the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party got 57 seats, according to the State Election Commission.

Gehlot had attacked his detractors in the party while inaugurating a Congress office in Sirohi district recently, saying the state government was saved from a crisis as the senior leaders suspended the rebels within the party fold.

He also accused the opposition BJP of restarting the "Game of Thrones" yet again to topple his government.

The rebel leaders he was pointing at include former Pradesh Congress Committee chief and ex-Deputy CM Sachin Pilot and his loyalists Ramesh Meena and Vishvendra Singh, who were suspended and removed as state ministers after Pilot along with 18 MLAs went to Manesar in an open rebellion against the Gehlot leadership. The central leadership of the party went into a damage control mode then to sort out the matter before things went out of control.

Congress' Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken made a statement soon after Gehlot's comments in Sirohi, saying that Pilot was an asset to the party besides assuring that the government was safe.

IANS