'Shekhawat Likely To Go To Jail': Ashok Gehlot Hits Back Over 'Ravan' Remark

Jaipur, Apr 28 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot hit back at Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Friday for calling him "Ravan". Referring to Shekhawat's alleged involvement in the Sanjeevani Credit Co-operative Society scam, Gehlot said, "If I am Ravan, you become Ram and return the investors' money." He further challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, saying, "If you throw stones at me, I will use those to build houses for the poor."

Addressing a gathering after visiting an inflation relief camp in Rawatsar town of Hanumangarh, Gehlot said Shekhawat's friends are in jail in connection with the scam and the Union minister is also likely to go to prison. He said if Shekhawat is guilty, either he should resign on moral grounds or Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack him.

At the BJP's Jan Aakrosh rally in Chittorgarh on Thursday, Shekhawat said, "If you want to end (the rule of) Ashok Gehlot, this Ravan of politics in Rajasthan, raise your hands and resolve to establish Ram Rajya in the state."

Reacting to these remarks, Gehlot on Friday said, "Nowadays, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and other BJP leaders have started abusing me. Am I Ravan? You (Shekhawat) looted 2.5 lakh people in the Sanjeevani Society and they got ruined. Your friends are in jail. You can also go to jail anytime."

The Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court stayed Shekhawat's arrest in connection with the scam recently. The Union minister has filed a criminal defamation case against Gehlot in a Delhi court for remarks linking him with the scam.

Referring to the high court's stay on Shekhawat's arrest, Gehlot said, "He has taken a stay from the high court. He used to say that I am not an accused at all.... If you are not an accused, why did you go to the court? Why did you get bail?"

The chief minister further said, "You can get bail. You are an accused. You are a central minister, so either resign on the basis of morality or Prime Minister Modi should sack you. Why have you kept such a corrupt person in your cabinet?"

Gehlot said, "He (Shekhawat) says Ashok Gehlot is Ravan.... Okay, I am Ravan, but you become Ram. Pay the money of these 2.5 lakh people."

He accused Shekhawat of robbing people and buying farmhouses in other countries and said he should return the money of those poor people by selling all the properties of the Sanjeevani Society and those in his possession.

The victims of the Sanjeevani scam met the chief minister several times. Referring to this, Gehlot said, "These people met me thrice. Tears welled up in my eyes. Now, those associated with the BJP are abusing me. My job is to serve."

"If you throw stones at me, I will use those to build houses for the poor. That is my thinking. I will get hospitals built. It is not my thinking that one cannot criticise and if one does, he will go to jail," the Congress leader said.