Ashok Gehlot: Modi has no family, I am doing what every father would do

JODHPUR: In a counter attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said that the former never headed a family so does not know that fathers helping their sons is quite normal.


Modi had targeting Gehlot for campaigning for his son Vaibhav Gehlot, who is Congress candidate from the Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat against union minister and BJP candidate Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

"Modi ji kahte hain baap laga hua hai bete ke liye, toh kaunsa baap hai jo nahi lagta (Modi ji says that the father is doing it for his son, so which father does not do that)," Gehlot said, while addressing a press conference here. He added, "Modi ji ko toh pata naheen; parivar chalaya nahi, toh kaise baat karenge (Modi ji does not understand this; he never headed a family, so how can he talk about it)."

Justifying campaigning for his son, the chief minister said, "It is democracy; people have to take the decision. If people decide, then only Vaibhav Gehlot can be successful (in the election)."

Prime Minister Modi, during his election rally in Jodhpur on Monday, claimed that Gehlot can see Congress' defeat on 24 seats in the state, so was concentrating on the 25th seat from where his son is contesting. "This is the reason why he (Gehlot) is campaigning from street to street in Jodhpur," Modi had said.

In response, the CM said on Wednesday, "Success in elections does not come with a father walking the streets for his son. It comes with what the 'janta' wants." Gehlot said that even if he were walking the streets, shops, villages and hamlets, it was a privilege and he liked it. "Modi would not understand this as he has never visited a single village in five years and worked only in cities," he said.