Jaipur: The sacked minister of Rajasthan, Rajendra Gudha, made public three pages of an alleged red diary that has created a political storm in the state. Gudha claimed that in these three pages, Dharmendra Rathod, a close aide of CM Ashok Gehlot, has mentioned transactions with the CM's son, Vaibhav Gehlot, Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Bhavani Samota, and others.
Addressing a press conference at his residence in Jaipur on Wednesday, Gudha refuted the allegations of blackmailing the government in the name of this red diary and said that it is the government that is blackmailing him.
'Government is blackmailing me': Gudha
''I am not blackmailing the government, but the government is blackmailing me, and Randhawa (in charge of state Congress) had also pressured me to apologize. I wanted to table this diary in the Vidhan Sabha so that all the facts come out officially,'' said the sacked minister.
Gudha claimed that the diary had the handwriting of Dharmendra Rathore. Some pages of the diary are missing, but he will release the pages that he has. 'I will keep making revelations on the pages of this diary; if I go to jail, my trusted person will keep sending these pages to you,' said Gudha.
' In the diary, the transactions of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) are in codewords, and things have also been written about the Chief Minister's Secretary and Vaibhav Gehlot," he said, adding that the corruption and transactions of RCA are mentioned on the pages shown today.
Gudha's story
Notably, Rajendra Gudha, once close to Gehlot, was dismissed from the cabinet after his brief statement in the assembly on the situation of crimes against women in the state. He created a stir in the Legislative Assembly by waving the red diary, claiming it mentioned illegal transactions during the political crisis of the Gehlot government, RCA, and Rajya Sabha elections.
There was uproar and scuffle in the house after this, and Gudha was suspended from the House for the entire session.
The alleged notings in the Lal diary:
Both Vaibhav ji and I discussed RCA election expenses and how Bhavani Samota is not giving money to the people even after deciding. Rajeev Khanna and Bhavani Samota came home, and Bhavani Samota has not fulfilled the promise he made to most of the people. I said it is not right, and Bhavani Samota said that he will inform CP sir. Then I will tell you by January 31…
'I called Sobhag ji, PS to CM, and asked him to clear the RCA expenses. Sobhag ji said that he will let him know after talking to the CM.' (Bhavani Samota is a former RAS officer and currently the secretary of RCA. It is claimed that he is close to Speaker Dr CP Joshi.)
BJP attacks Gehlot and Congress:
On the other hand, as soon as the pages of the alleged red diary came out, BJP attacked Gehlot and Congress.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tweeted that the red diary is the biggest issue of the time. The kind of revelations Gudha has made, the democratic morality of the state government is under question. The public is thinking, "How can such a manipulator remain the head of the state!" Gehlot Ji is not going to resign! But what is the Congress high command doing? Does Gehlot ji also have any diary of the Gandhi family due to which he is still in the post even after so much trouble?
Meanwhile, BJP State President CP Joshi wrote that...See, the first page of the red diary has been exposed by the former minister regarding the dark deeds of Rajkumar Vaibhav Gehlot ji of the Congress government of the state. Now waiting for the truth of the complete diary? The public wants to know the truth from you, Chief Minister @ashokgehlot51 ji...The Lal diary is not fiction.
