Gehlot flays BJP spokesperson for remarks against ex-Union minister, seeks apology

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday criticised BJP’s national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia for his alleged indecent remarks against the late former Union minister Sis Ram Ola and demanded an apology from the party. Sis Ram Ola, a prominent Jat leader from Rajasthan, had died in 2013.

Referring to the Congress leader in a TV debate over the cabinet reshuffle at the Centre and a similar exercise by the UPA government under PM Manmohan Singh, the BJP spokesperson had said, “Jinka hill raha tha purja, unmein Manmohanji dhoond rahe the urja.”

Commenting on it, Gehlot tweeted, “I condemn the remarks made by BJP’s national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia on Ola. This has created a lot of resentment among the people of the state. BJP National President @JPNadda should immediately apologise to the people of Rajasthan.”

Gehlot said Ola protected interests of farmers in the social and political field for more than 60 years.

“He was a cabinet minister several times in both the central and state governments. In 1968, he received the Padma Shri for social service,” he said.