Leaders should have shown guts during elections: Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot expressed regret for not campaigning in Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly Elections with much enthusiasm.

In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Gehlot said, "I accept that we did not campaign in Haryana and Maharashtra the way we should have with enthusiasm. Had we campaigned that way, the outcome could have been different."

He also urged the local leaders in the two states to have shown more guts. He said, "The local leadership should have shown the guts needed. They should have approached the elections saying we will perform our duty, come what may. That we have been chief ministers, ministers, we will fight with all our might and help whoever who needed support. That did not happen.”

Further, Gehlot questioned the Jharkhand Assembly Elections being held in five phases. He also advised the government to explore the possibility of state funding elections.

Accusing the Elections Commission, he told The Indian Express, "Elections Commission was acting on a 'whim' and nobody is questioning it."

The election results in Haryana and Maharashtra came as a morale booster for a moribund Congress, which stood battered ever since its humiliating defeat in the last Lok Sabha poll and was thrust into a leadership crisis thereafter.

The Election Commission on November 1, announced the schedule of Jharkhand Assembly Elections. It will be interesting to see BJP's Raghubar Das retains the seat or Congress takes on the throne this time.