Gehlot not in control of state, alleges sacked minister

Jaipur: A day after being sacked as minister in the Rajasthan government, MLA Rajendra Gudha on Saturday stepped up his attack on Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, alleging he is no longer in control in the state which is leading in crimes against women.

Congress in charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that the one who does not follow the ideology of the Congress has no place in the party and the decision to sack Gudha was a "collective" decision.

But a defiant Gudha again accused the Gehlot government of failing to check crime against women.

"Nothing will happen by sacking Rajendra Gudha. Create a sense of security in sisters and daughters. There is an atmosphere of anarchy in the state. The home department is with the chief minister who is sitting with a bandage on his feet," the MLA from Udaipurwati said in Jhunjhunu.

He said that the chief minister is not in control of the state and the government is not able to protect girls and women.

While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot parried questions on the sacking of the minister, saying it was an internal matter of the party, the opposition BJP targeted the Congress.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that on the instructions of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Gehlot sacked the minister for expressing concern over crimes against women in the state.

"Will Chief Minister Gehlot tender his resignation when his own minister says that the chief minister has lost his 'iqbal' (authority), when in his home district, a woman is murdered and burnt, and when five km away from his residence a woman is raped and left to die?" he asked.

"This is a question for (Congress chief Mallikarjun) Kharge and Gandhi parivaar leaders," he said and asked if they have "forgotten their responsibility".

Gudha, who held charge as Minister of State for Sainik Kalyan (Independent Charge), Home Guard and Civil Defence, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, was sacked on Friday evening, hours after he cornered the state government over law and order in the assembly.

In Jaipur, Sukhjinder Randhawa said he had talked to Gudha in the past about his controversial statements and he had assured him that he would maintain the party discipline.

The move to sack Gudha was a collective decision, he said at a press conference at the PCC war room.

"'It is my and the state president's job to maintain discipline in the party. The Congress party needs those people who follow the ideology of the Congress. The one who does not follow the ideology of the party has no place in the Congress," he said.

Randhawa said that it had become Gudha's "habit" to run down the party.

During a discussion on the Rajasthan Minimum Income Guarantee Bill 2023 in the state Assembly on Friday, Congress MLAs waved placards on the Manipur violence but Gudha sought accountability from his own government on crimes inflicted against women.

"The way we have failed to provide security to women in Rajasthan and atrocities on women have increased, instead of raising the issue of Manipur, we should introspect," Gudha said.

Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore slammed the state government saying Rajasthan tops the chart of crimes against women.

Referring to Rajendra Rathore's statement in the assembly shortly after the comment of Gudha, Randhawa said that the party will look into whether there was any understanding between Gudha and Rathore.

Earlier, Gehlot said that the decision to terminate Gudha was an internal matter of the party.

He was responding to a question during a press conference at the CM residence on Saturday regarding the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023 passed in the assembly yesterday.

Gudha, who is among six MLAs who won the 2018 assembly elections on a BSP ticket before defecting to the Congress in September 2019, was inducted as a minister in November 2021.

They had supported Gehlot in July 2020 during his tussle with his then deputy Sachin Pilot. However, in the last few months, Gudha has made statements in favour of Pilot.