N-words again: Now, Gehlot calls Gajendra Shekhawat 'nikamma, nikara'
Jaipur (PTI): Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday called Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat "good for nothing" -- using the derogatory words "nikamma" and "nikara" that he once used for fellow Congress leader Sachin Pilot.
The chief minister was lashing out at the BJP-led government at the Centre for not declaring the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) a "national project". Referring to the 25 Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from Rajasthan, he claimed they are not doing anything for the state.
"The minister is from here, he is such a nakara' (useless), nikamma' (good-for-nothing) minister. He is our minister, our MP from Jodhpur," Gehlot said in Hindi, in a clear reference to the Jal Shakti minister. However, the CM didn't take his name.
"Can't he get a project declared a national project? He makes excuses and confuses people," Gehlot continued, speaking at the launch of projects worth Rs 1,410 crore in Jaipur.
"What are the 25 MPs doing? Ask these MPs. The public trusted you and made you an MP," he said.
Previously, Gehlot has used the same N-words to describe former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot after he mounted a rebellion in 2020 against his leadership.
The two have papered over their differences ahead of the assembly polls due this year-end.
The CM has a running feud with Shekhawat, whom he accused of being involved in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam. The Union minister then took him to court.
Gehlot said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself promised he will look into the "national project" demand for the ERCP from a "positive perspective".
He said it is sad that despite the prime minister's "promise" the ERCP was not given the status while "16 national projects" are running in the country.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
