Jaipur: Addressing a press conference a day after his bête noir Sachin Pilot staged a hunger strike against him, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot refused to mention the former. Instead, he referred to a statement by the Congress headquarters in Delhi that the party would head into the upcoming state polls on the back of the Gehlot government’s achievements.
“You all saw the AICC statement. For the first time, that a chief minister’s office has achieved this. This CMO is setting the example for other states. What can be of more pride (than) that our high command has commented on this? Our aim is to go ahead in this direction,” said Gehlot. “We have one mission — Mehengai Rahat (relief from rising prices). We will not look left or right from there.”
In the press conference held at the CM’s residence in Jaipur, Gehlot elaborated on a ‘Mission 2030’, indicating that he’s here for the long haul.
“By 2030, I want to make Rajasthan the number one state in the country on all parameters,” said Gehlot. The first step towards this, he said, was his much-publicised state Budget announced with the slogan ‘Rahat, Bachat, Badhat’.
The next step will be the ‘Mehengai Rahat’ camps that will be organised across the state starting 24 April.
According to Gehlot, these camps will be organised statewide to encourage mass registration in 10 of the government’s welfare schemes. The government will start with 700 such camps this month, which will be scaled up to 2,700 over the next few months.
“The need for registration camps was felt after hearing the feedback about the delivery of welfare schemes”, said Gehlot. “We realised that many don’t know about the welfare schemes they are entitled to be a part of. We also realised that schemes sometimes take too long to reach people,” he added.
These schemes include some of the government’s flagship initiatives, such as the CM gas cylinder scheme — which makes cooking gas refills available for 500 rupees per cylinder — and the free electricity scheme (100 units of free power to every household). Also included are the Annapurna food packets and the government’s social security pension scheme.
Gehlot further said that those who are eligible but don’t want to make use of a scheme can write off their benefits at the camp so that someone else may be helped.
When asked about the Pilot issue, Gehlot had just one answer: “Mehengai Rahat”. He refused to say anything beyond these two words.
‘Don’t respond to Pilot’
According to sources in the CM’s team, a though-out approach is being made to ensure that Gehlot doesn’t respond to Pilot.
“We have realised that the matter escalates every time the CM responds to a statement made by Pilot. It creates an atmosphere of tension and the media also feeds off it,” said a member of Gehlot’s team involved in his strategy and outreach ahead of the state polls.
“Since the AICC has given a clear signal that they will go to the polls on the back of the Gehlot government’s achievements, his concerted effort will now be on promoting the governance model,” said the team member.
In the past, Gehlot has called Pilot names such as “nikamma”, “gaddar” and even the coronavirus.
However, the “governance model” is a plank he’s been focussing on since the state budget earlier this year. On Rajasthan Day earlier this month, Gehlot also organised a “Labharthi Diwas” where he interacted with beneficiaries of welfare schemes gathered in 38 different locations across the state.