Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday demanded the resignation of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over a “red diary” which, he alleged, contained details of corruption and black deeds of the state government.
Addressing a “Sahakar Kisan Sammelan” in Gangapur City in the poll-bound state, Shah said the BJP-led central government raised the agriculture budget by six times from 22,000 crore to 1,25,000 crore, whereas the Congress had done nothing for farmers. Shah, who also holds the Cooperation portfolio, said the BJP government fulfilled the long-pending demand of farmers and constituted a separate ministry for cooperative societies.
Pointing to a few people who raised slogans during the event, the home minister said, “I want to tell Gehlot saab that you will achieve nothing by sending some people to shout slogans. If there is any shame left in him, he should resign over the ‘red diary’ issue and enter the election fray. Nowadays Gehlot saab is very afraid of the colour red. The colour of the diary is red, but black deeds are hidden in it. The red diary has details of multi-crore corruption,” he said, as quoted by PTI.
Sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha had earlier claimed that “red diary” contains records of “misdeeds” by the Gehlot government and that he had retrieved it from the residence of Gehlot’s aide Dharmendra Rathore at Gehlot’s insistence, while Income Tax raids were on at Rathore’s properties in 2020 during a revolt against the Gehlot government.
Rathore is currently Chairman of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC).
Gudha was sacked in July as a minister of the Gehlot-led government, hours after he criticised the state government in the Assembly over crimes against women.
During a House debate on the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, as Congress MLAs stormed the well over the Manipur issue and raised placards, Gudha had got up and said, “In Rajasthan, it is the truth that we have failed when it comes to women safety. The manner in which crimes against women have increased in Rajasthan, we should introspect rather than (talk on) Manipur.”
Rajasthan goes to polls later this year.
