New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday attacked Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot after he had targeted Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for his frequent visits to the state in the run-up to the year-end Assembly elections.
Taking a swipe at Gehlot, Union Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal asked if the Vice President will have to get permission from Gehlot before visiting the poll-bound state.
"For the Vice President (Jagdeep Dhankhar), the CM (Ashok Gehlot) said why is he coming now? So the Vice President will come after getting permission from him? It was a govt program in Bikaner which he inaugurated... So doing politics in this regard is not right," he said.
Objecting to Dhankhar’s visits to the state, Gehlot had said, “people understand why the Vice-President is coming here again and again” and that “they will give a reply to it”.
Meanwhile, reacting to Gehlot's statement, BJP Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "It is most unfortunate that the Congress Party seeing imminent defeat in Rajasthan is now dragging in Constitutional positions into their political battle against BJP. Now they are attacking the Vice President of India and his position as well. Somebody who happens to be the son of the soil of Rajasthan."
'Does the Congress Party and the first family expect that the Vice President of India must seek permission from the first family of the Congress Party before he discharges his constitutional duties?' he questioned.
On Wednesday, Gehlot had said, "The vice president is moving up and down the. Today, he will visit five places. Four helicopters and five visits. Now that you are coming frequently, doing tours. There is no logic. What is the logic?"
Assembly elections in the state are due by the year-end.