Any leader who believes in BJP ideology can join us, says Union minister amid Rajasthan Cong tussle

The BJP is open to welcoming any leader who believes in the ideology of the party, Union minister Kailash Choudhary said here on Tuesday, amid a tussle between Congress leaders Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan.

"There is no rejection to anyone who has a grassroots connect coming to the BJP fold," Choudhary said.

He said common people of Rajasthan are bearing the brunt of the tussle between Pilot and Gehlot.

Gehlot is busy trying to save his chair as elections approach, he said.

"There is no refusal to anyone who joins the BJP and believes in our ideology," he said when asked about the possibility of dissident Congress leader Pilot joining the BJP.

On Monday, Pilot cited Congress' victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls against the BJP to push for action by the Ashok Gehlot government over alleged corruption during a previous BJP rule in Rajasthan.

The former deputy chief minister mounted pressure on the chief minister and the party's top brass with a five-day yatra which ended Monday with a big rally in Jaipur.

Kailash Choudhary, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, made the remarks at an event to hand over appointment letters to 71,000 youths in Jammu and Kashmir.

Choudhary alleged the Rajasthan government is deeply mired in corruption, while law and order was situation was deteriorating and women remain unsafe.

"This is not what we have said. It is what his (Gehlot) legislators and ministers are saying," he said.

Accusing the Gehlot government of pursuing a politics of "appeasement", Choudhary said people were waiting for the upcoming Assembly elections to remove it.