Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP and tribal stalwart Kirodi Lal Meena has said that if he were to choose between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot as the chief minister if the Congress was voted to power, he would reject both.

In an interview to Hindustan Times, Kirodi said, “Kisan putra agar koi ho to wo meri choice hogi, (Pilot, Gehlot) dono kisan putra nahi hain. Pilot to pilot ka beta hai, kisan ka beta nahi hai… Gehlot saab chhote baghwani kisan hain… dono kisan nahi hain (If there’s a farmer’s son, he would be my choice. Both of them aren’t son of farmer. (Sachin) Pilot’s father was an airplane pilot and Gehlot is a small horticulture farmer).”

The 66-year-old BJP MP, who is a medical doctor, left the BJP in 2008 over differences with Vasundhara Raje, and returned to the party fold in March this year. Within hours, the BJP nominated him as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha election, which he won.

In 2013 assembly election, Kirodi, as state president of the National People’s Party (NPP), fought from two constituencies, Sawai Madhopur and Lalsot; he lost from Sawai Madhopur. After his election to the Rajya Sabha, he vacated the Lalsot assembly seat.

Talking about anti-incumbency against the BJP, Kirodi admitted that there was anger against some MLAs. “Yye baat sahi hai ki kuch vidhayako ne aise kaam kiye jiske karan janta me bade paimane par narazgi hai, jo mere ko pata laga hai ki party aise vidhyako ke ticket katne ja rahi hai (It is true there’s anger among people against some of the MLAs. My information is that the party will deny all these MLAs ticket this time),” he said.

The maverick politician candidly said there was some lack of communication with the CM these four years but added that through the Gaurav Yatra, Raje had bucked that. “Jo chaar saal tak halki phulki sanwadheenta rahi, wo bhi khatam ho gayee (the little lack of communication that was there for four years has now ended),” he said talking about Gaurav Yatra through which Raje sought to reach out to people to give them an account of her government’s achievements.

Reacting to Kirodi’s interview, Congress spokesperson Satyendra Singh Raghav said, “If Meena wants to talk and raise issues of farmers, then he should do it in his party. If he feels that he is son of farmer, then he should convey to their party high command that he is candidate for chief ministership.”

Raghav said that now a BJP leader is also agreeing that there is anti-incumbency against party MLAs and ministers, and that they aren’t able to enter their respective constituencies. “People are ready to change the government,” he added.

First Published: Nov 02, 2018 15:14 IST