Barmer, April 8: Targeting the BJP leadership over its candidate selection in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Monday said all the four union ministers contesting Lok Sabha polls in the state are in a "weak position" as the public is "unhappy" with them. Gehlot said Prime Minister Narendra Modi made first-time MPs minister and people are "fed up" with them in five years.

“Prospects of union ministers contesting Lok Sabha polls in Rajasthan are poor. Ticket of one minister, CR Chaudhary, was dropped and rest of the ministers- Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Jodhpur, PP Chaudhary in Pali, Rajyavardhan Rathore in Jaipur rural and Arjun Ram Meghwal in Bikaner are in a weak position. There is resentment among the public against them,” he claimed while addressing a rally here. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot Writes to PM Narendra Modi, Seeks Farm Loan Waiver on National Scale.

"Those who won elections for the first time were made ministers whereas four-time MP Dushyant Singh, the son of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje was not given a chance. This is the state of affairs in BJP which is going to lose elections,” the chief minister said. Gehlot was in Barmer to address a rally in support of party candidate Manvendra Singh, a former BJP leader who defected to the Congress ahead of the 2018 assembly elections following discord with Raje.

In a scathing attack on the BJP and its leaders, Gehlot charged that former chief minister Raje ruled in a vindictive manner and ignored Marwar area because he (Gehlot) belongs to the region. He also alleged that it was Raje who got Jaswant Singh's ticket dropped from the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and and also called BJP and Congress leaders asking them to ensure that Singh, who contested as an independent candidate, loses the election.

“Raje did politics of revenge but this does not go a long way in democracy,” he said. Targeting sitting BJP MP from Barmer, Sonaram Chaudhary, who was dropped by the party this time, Gehlot said Congress took care of Sonaram for 15 years and he became MP and then MLA on Congress ticket but he joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 LS elections and got the ticket.

“But what happened this time that he was not given ticket by the BJP?” he said. Highlighting promises made by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Gehlot said the UPA, if elected, will introduce a separate budget for agriculture and support farmers and poor people. “Whatever Gandhi says, he does,” Gehlot said.

The chief minister charged that democracy and Constitution in the country are under threat under the rule of prime minister Narendra Modi and the country is passing through an "alarming" phase. PCC president and deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and other leaders were present on the occasion.