Bhajan Lal Sharma calls Ashok Gehlot a 'looter'; Gehlot demands proof or apology

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma escalated the state's political temperature on Tuesday, branding former chief minister Ashok Gehlot a 'looter' who, he said, squeezed farmers through questionable business dealings long before Gehlot entered electoral politics. Sharma made the remarks in Jodhpur during the 'Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao' (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy) march.

The central charge concerns Gehlot's earlier career as a dealer. Sharma said Gehlot once ran a fertiliser and seed shop, and that farmers who bought from it were overcharged for products of doubtful quality. He pointed to a raid on a godown linked to Gehlot and argued that farmers still hold bills showing the prices they paid. Sharma also framed the matter as a contradiction: a man who once dealt with farmers, he suggested, should not now be posing as their champion.

Gehlot responded the same evening on X, calling the allegations baseless and claiming they had caused him personal hurt. He asked Sharma either to present a detailed account backed by facts and documents, placing it before the people of Rajasthan, or to apologise within 24 hours. The exchange has moved quickly from policy rhetoric into a direct credibility contest between two of the state's most prominent leaders.

Sharma did not back down. He said he would answer any rebuttal in full and left little doubt that he intended to keep the attacks going. In the same speech he questioned Gehlot's record in his constituency, arguing that family interests had taken precedence over public service across several election cycles. He also revived older corruption allegations from Gehlot's tenure, including questions about appointments to the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and the Jal Jeevan Mission scam, in which former ministers and officials were jailed.

Jodhpur city Congress president Omkar Verma pushed back, telling the Times of India that Gehlot did run a fertiliser and seed shop in Pipar City in the mid-1970s and closed it when he entered politics. He said no raid had ever been conducted on that shop. Verma acknowledged that the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI had raided Gehlot's brother's business in 2020 and 2022, respectively, and argued that bringing family members into a chief minister's address was inappropriate. Those claims come from the Congress side and have not been independently tested in this dispute.

Why it matters: the row touches two of Rajasthan's most sensitive issues, farm incomes and the integrity of public institutions, and it lands in a state where agrarian distress and governance records are central to voter debate. Whether the 24-hour deadline produces documents, a retraction, or simply more rhetoric will shape how both sides frame their case ahead of the next political contest.

Read the original report at Times of India.

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