"Anti-incumbency has found no room in our system. People's aspirations were met in spite of the challenges and the government eventually delivered," says Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in an exclusive interview to Rediff.com
"Rajasthan is the only state where no demand was raised to change the PCC president in seven years. We knew that nothing is happening here. We knew he is 'nikamma' (worthless) and 'nakara' (idle), still we did not question this in the interest of the party," Gehlot told reporters.
Rajasthan is reeling under a huge financial burden with the state's debt having gone beyond Rs 5.59 lakh crores. Rajasthan has increased expenditure on education by 203.4 percent, by 105.4 percent on health, by 227.14 percent on housing. Its expenditure on social welfare schemes has increased by almost 2,475 per cent.
"Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi trust our words and reports. Why don't senior BJP leaders like Amit Shah or Dharmendra Pradhan visit Baran or anywhere in the state to know what actually is the ground reality," Gehlot told PTI.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday lashed out at opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties over Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks against 'Sanatan Dharma', accusing them of insulting 'Sanatan Dharma' for votebank and appeasement politics.
Former Rajasthan minister Rajendra Singh Gudha claimed that Congress leaders dragged him out of the state assembly on Monday.
The Congress had taken action against them on July 17 after three audio tapes allegedly pertaining to the conspiracy to topple the government surfaced.
Scindia had left the Congress a few months back and joined the BJP as he believed that he was being marginalised by senior party leaders in Madhya Pradesh.
While the two MLAs will abstain in the event of a trust vote in the assembly, it is, however, not a withdrawal of support.
Sources close to the Congress leader said he was doing fine.
In veiled criticism of the Ashok Gehlot government on Tuesday, Congress leader Sachin Pilot called for zero tolerance to incidents like the recent killing of a Dalit boy and called for action against local officials for an alleged lathi-charge on the victim's family.
Congress observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken on Monday briefed party president Sonia Gandhi about the developments in Rajasthan and are expected to submit a written report about the crisis in the party's state unit latest by Tuesday.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, state Bharatiya Janata Party chief Vasundhara Raje and Pradesh Congress Committee president Chandrabhan were among 861 candidates who filed their nomination papers for the Assembly elections on Monday.
If alcohol-based sanitisers can kill coronavirus on the hands, there is no reason why alcoholic drinks may not kill the virus in tipplers' throats, a Congress MLA has argued, seeking the reopening of liquor shops in Rajasthan. Congress MLA Bharat Singh Kundanpur put forward the argument in all seriousness in his letter written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday, urging him to open liquor shops in the state.
As results were declared for assembly elections in four states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana -- here are how some of the prominent candidates fared.
The Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in Rajasthan on Sunday, winning 115 seats out of the 199 where assembly elections were held last week.
He also said Pilot should have raised his demand for action in cases of alleged corruption by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government during a debate in the Rajasthan assembly, instead of holding a day-long fast on the issue.
The Congress has decided to shift its MLAs in Rajasthan to a Udaipur hotel, with party sources saying they fear that the Bharatiya Janata Party will poach them ahead of the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.
Amid reports of a crisis in the Rajasthan Congress government, senior party leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday expressed concerns over the direction in which the party is heading.
The Rajasthan police early on Friday removed the widows of the three CRPF jawans killed in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack from the protest site outside Congress leader Sachin Pilot's house here and shifted them to hospitals near their respective residential areas.
An "undercurrent" seems to have worked against Congress in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot conceded on Sunday, saying though the welfare schemes of his government were good the opposition had managed to create an "incorrect" impression in the minds of the voter.
The 369 foot tall Shiva statue can be seen from 20 kilometres away.
What he has said is shocking and shameful, former Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, noting that the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has repeated his remarks.
The discussions are mostly one-on-one, party insiders said on Thursday, a day of many meetings.
Gehlot said the CAA is against the Constitution and divides people in the name of religion.
The Congress central leadership's decision to send former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot to work for the party in Gujarat is a strategic one, say Congress sources.
Since 1993, when the BJP came to power after a stint of President's rule, the state has alternated between the Congress and the BJP.
The BJP on Thursday alleged that the CBI action against its leader Gulab Chand Kataria is nothing but a "conspiracy of CM Ashok Gehlot", who is "panicked" seeing the massive support the party is getting in poll-bound Rajasthan.
Gehlot said be it Adani or Amit Shah's son Jay Shah, Rajasthan will welcome all because it wants investment and employment.
Pilot, who spent around an hour at Gandhi's residence where Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal was also present, said he conveyed his sentiments and gave his feedback to the party president.
The Jats are a political force in Rajasthan and the community's presence in 85 assembly constituencies may tilt the balance in electoral politics.
Congress candidates Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari were elected to the Rajya Sabha, according to a tweet by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
An unease has set in the Rajasthan Congress with its senior leader Ajay Maken quitting as the state in-charge ahead of the assembly polls scheduled next year, with party sources saying that he has been asked to continue on the post.
Other Congress leaders who are learnt to have spoken with Pilot are Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram and K C Venugopal.
Senior party leaders, including the Congress' Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra and co-in-charges Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin, Amrita Dhawan and Virendra Rathore were present at a meeting at the party's Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Road office in New Delhi, during which they are likely to discuss Pilot's march.
Ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan, the Congress government on Saturday night issued an order for the conduct of a caste survey in the state.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers in Jaipur for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.
A video purportedly of a meeting of the Congress MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has surfaced.
The accident took place around 1 pm near Leela Ki Dhani on the Jhunjhunu-Gudha Godji highway, they added.
"BJP leaders are playing the game at the behest of central leaders. MLAs were offered money... Rs 10 crore in advance and Rs 15 crore after the government is toppled," the chief minister alleged and added that the BJP wants to convert the state's politics into a goat market, 'bakra mandi'.
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