New Delhi
Sacked Rajasthan Minister Rajendra Gudha’s trump card “a Red Diary” that nearly brought a cinematic climax to the Assembly drama on Monday, is a pandora’s box that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has openly accepted in the past, not just within a closed circle, but at his own birthday gala some years back, showering gratitude on the same Gudha, whom the CM so mercilessly fired last week for raising alleged spiraling cases of crimes against women in the Congress-ruled state.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, Madan Dilawar, who also was suspended from the House on Monday along with Gudha for the remaining of the Monsoon Session by Speaker C.P. Joshi, told The Sunday Guardian: “Gehlot has given an open hand at corruption to all in the Congress who support him to continue in power. He has told his supporters they were free to make as much money they want by whatever means, but the only thing he asks of them is to support the Ashok Gehlot government.”
“I have seen the lal diary from outside, but have not seen its contents,” Dilawar told this paper over phone on Tuesday, adding, “But it is true whatever Gudha has said, in fact it is common knowledge, as people in Rajasthan political circles have heard the CM saying it at his birthday ceremony openly that had it not been for Gudhaji, I would not have continued as the CM.” High drama was witnessed both inside and outside the Rajasthan Assembly on Monday as the sacked minister waved the “red diary”, which he claimed holds details of irregular financial transactions, enough to bring Gehlot on his knees allegedly and was eventually unceremoniously “dragged” out of the House. Gudha, who has said he will go among the people on Tuesday and reveal the “secrets” of the diary, has claimed that he “secured” the “lal diary” along with two others during an income tax raid at the residence of RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore. An upset and weeping Gudha told the media outside the Assembly on Monday that during the raid, “Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asked me to go to Rathore’s residence to secure the diary, which we (he and two others) did.”
Dilawar told The Sunday Guardian that Gudha had confided in the BJP leader a year back, saying: “Gudha, Ramlal Jat and another were the ones who managed to retrieve the red diary from the first floor of the RTDC chairman’s house during a raid, or Gehlot would have been ruined forever.” “Regarding the existence of this red diary, Gudha had also told me a year ago,” said the Ramganj Mandi BJP MLA.
“It is true that Gudha spitting out the truth at this juncture has stirred the hornet’s nest, but the CM has from time to time accepted that all Manesar-trouping MLAs took Rs 20 crore each to allow the Gehlot government to continue,” said Dilawar, whom Speaker Joshi ordered to be thrown out of the House for throwing papers and creating ruckus.
The senior BJP legislator said, “Although the CM did not expand on it (the money), he did speak about this money transaction just six months after the 2020 Manesar resort fiasco at the height of the Ashok Gehlot-Sachin Pilot feud.”
With barely months left for the state to go to polls, Dilawar told this newspaper: “The Congress in Rajasthan is not just neck-deep in corruption but they are drowning in it. There is the Rs 900 crore corruption by Shantilal Dhariwal (Parliamentary Affairs Minister) in the sewage treatment plant case.”
“They (the Congress government in Rajasthan) have carried out ‘Rs 1000-crore ghotala’ in Jal Jeevan Mission. This Congress government is not involved in just one ‘ghotala’ but many of them,” the BJP MLA said. “Gehlot has told the Congress MLAs, workers, leaders, ‘Tum Khao, Kamao, Lekin Mera Saath Do’ (that loosely translates to ‘You satisfy your hunger, fill your coffers, but support me. Do anything you want’),” said Dilawar. He continued, “And this camaraderie of corrupt leaders supporting Gehlot will continue for the remaining of the five years till election bell rings. Or you never know even after that. They may not have the money to buy BJP people, but they definitely will satisfy rogue, rebel Congress leaders to continue.” Gudha was sacked as minister of state on 21 July after he cornered the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the Assembly.