Dismissing the demand of Rajasthan Congress dissident leader Sachin Pilot to give compensation to affected candidates of question paper leaks, CM Ashok Gehlot has called it 'intellectual bankruptcy.'
Making a veiled attack on Pilot, Gehlot said, "Such a demand is made that the papers got leaked, so they (candidates) should get compensation. What would you call this? Would this not be called intellectual bankruptcy?"
Inaugurating a state-of-the-art bus terminal at the Jaipur central bus stand, Sindhi camp on Thursday Gehlot said, "We have made the law. We sent 200 people to jail. The opposition does not have any issue so they are raising such demands. 26 lakh candidates appear in the exam and you are demanding to give them compensation. Can the government do so?"
The compensation
Gehlot's reaction came 10 days after Sachin Pilot gave an ultimatum of 15 days demanding compensation for the candidates affected by the paper leak. This was among the three demands made by Pilot during his five-day-long Jan Sangharsh Yatra from Ajmer to Jaipur. The other two demands were the reconstitution of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and a high-level probe of alleged corruption cases of the previous BJP government.
Sources in the party said that CM Gehlot's statement indicates that he will not accept the demands made by Pilot who warned of a state-level protest if the demands are not met in 15 days.
Notably, Gehlot and Sachin Pilot were to attend a meeting called by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday which was cancelled late Thursday night.
