Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on November 23 termed the “red diary” issue and Mahadev betting app case as “conspiracies” of the BJP to win Assembly polls in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
An inquiry into the matter should be done by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, he demanded “’Lal diary’ was a conspiracy of the BJP. They thought it would become a big issue if the Prime Minister spoke about it. Similarly Mahadev app case…Smriti Irani held a press conference, ED issued a press note but no investigation was done. The Prime Minister was speaking about it. The whole conspiracy was to arrest the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister but they got exposed,” he said at a press conference in Jaipur.
The ED and Income Tax Department conducted 50 raids in Rajasthan but was any politician or bureaucrat arrested following the raids in the State, he asked.
They have been exposed. They are pained that they could not topple the Rajasthan Government by horse trading, he said.
Later at a press conference in Jaipur, Home Minister Amit Shah asked why Mr. Gehlot did not get the red diary matter investigated.
The BJP has been targeting the Congress Government in Rajasthan over the red diary matter and Mahadev betting app matter. A sacked Rajasthan Minister had alleged that the red diary contains details of alleged financial irregularities committed by the Gehlot Government.
On November 5, the Centre blocked 22 illegal betting platforms, including the Mahadev app, on the Enforcement Directorate’s request.
The action followed investigations conducted by the ED against an illegal betting app syndicate and subsequent raids in connection with the Mahadev app in Chhattisgarh.
The Chief Minister lashed out at the BJP for publishing full page advertisements in newspapers containing compilation of news clippings on incidents of crime in Rajasthan, and charged that the BJP wants to win elections by “misleading people” and “hatching conspiracies”.
He said a woman was molested in the Banaras Hindu University in the prime minister’s Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi but no one was talking about that. Wrestlers were also on dharna and accused a BJP MP of molesting them but the prime minister was silent, he said.
On the BJP making the Kanhaiya Lal murder case a poll issue, Mr. Gehlot claimed that those who killed Lal were BJP workers and that BJP leaders, including the Deputy Mayor, had got them released in some other case earlier.
Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was murdered by cleaver wielding two men at his shop in Udaipur last year for supporting a social media post by BJP leader Nupur Sharma. The post was seen as an insult to Islam.
Mr. Gehlot also lashed out at the Prime Minister for his remark on late Congress leader Rajesh Pilot and accused the party of seeking to provoke the Gurjar community.
He said 72 Gurjars were killed in police firing during the BJP rule when the community held an agitation to demand reservation whereas during his rule, no lathicharge was done despite agitations and 5% reservation was given.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 22 accused the Congress of punishing Sachin Pilot after meting out the same treatment to his father Rajesh Pilot, saying anyone who speaks the truth in the party is shunted out of politics.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot had hit back, saying there was no need for anyone other than the party and the people to worry about him.
Trashing the Chief Minister’s allegations, Mr. Shah asked Mr. Gehlot to first spell out some good things about Mr. Sachin Pilot.
Asserting there is no anti-incumbency against his government in Rajasthan, Mr. Gehlot said that Prime Minister, Home Minister, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States were intensely campaigning for Rajasthan Assembly elections but no one of them will be seen after November 25, the day of polling.
The results will be declared on December 3.
