New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should not “punish” former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje over her refusal to support an alleged conspiracy to topple the Congress-led government in the state in 2020, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said on Thursday.

The senior Congress leader also said that he and his former deputy, Sachin Pilot, are “united”, and ruled out any rift in the party over ticket distribution for next month’s assembly elections.

The chief minister was addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters in the national capital when he was asked about the alleged sidelining of Raje in the BJP.

Calling it an “internal matter” of the BJP, Gehlot said: “I would not like to comment on it. But I would like to say that she should not be punished because of me. It would be injustice to her.”

READ | ‘Seems like his leader is Raje, not Sonia Gandhi’: Pilot attacks Ashok Gehlot

HT had reported earlier that Raje’s supporters have raised concerns over alleged attempts of the state BJP leadership to “sideline her”. In January, the former chief minister’s supporters had floated the Vasundhara Raje Samarth Manch Rajasthan, demanding that she be named as chief ministerial candidate for next year’s polls.

At the press conference, Gehlot went on to recall his remarks he made in May in Dholpur, that he survived a rebellion by Congress MLAs in 2020 because BJP leaders Raje and Kailash Meghwal (now suspended) did not support a “conspiracy to topple” his government through money power.

The rebellion, in July 2020, was triggered by 22 MLAs, led by then deputy chief minister Pilot. He and the legislators eventually returned to the fold.

READ | ‘Conspiracy, insult’: Vasundhara Raje after Ashok Gehlot claims she saved his govt in 2020

Addressing reporters, Gehlot said: “I would like to narrate an incident (that happened) when my government was facing a crisis…When I was Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president, the then chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was abroad in the US for a bypass surgery and his own people were looking to topple his government. As state Congress chief, I had opposed this and said that this was not appropriate.”

He said he had even told then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao and then governor Bali Ram Bhagat this would not be correct.

“Kailash Meghwal knew about this and when there was a crisis in our government, he said that there is no tradition of toppling governments this way. I keep meeting MLAs aligned to Vasundhara Raje ji and I knew about her remarks and it slipped out of my mouth at a public meeting that she held the same opinion that Kailash Meghwal did,” he said.

Both Gehlot and Raje have alternated power in the state since 1998 when the Congress veteran was voted in. He lost to Raje in 2003, who in turn lost to Gehlot in 2008. Raje returned to power in 2013 but again lost to Gehlot in 2018.

There was no immediate reaction from Raje or BJP leaders on Gehlot’s remarks. But, to be sure, after his Dholpur remarks, Raje had targeted Gehlot, saying there is no goodwill in his praise but “only malice”.

On the 2020 revolt led by Pilot, Gehlot said he has adopted the policy of “forgive and forget” and has moved on. He said that in the midst of the rebellion, “we (Congress leaders and MLAs) had stayed in a hotel for 40 days and all the differences were resolved with the high command’s intervention”. “When I came out of the hotel, my first statement was ‘forgive and forget’. We will work with that sentiment,” he said.

“I am becoming a partner in all the decisions taken by Pilot, who will also be our supporter,” he added.

He also dismissed speculations of fresh rift in the Congress over ticket distribution for November 25 elections. “We are all united. I have not opposed any (prospective) candidate (from Pilot camp),” he said.

On the delay in announcing the Congress’s list of candidates, he said: “This is a problem for the opposition (BJP). The decisions are being taken through the selection process within the party. They (BJP) are worried why we are not fighting among ourselves.”