Jaipur: A proposed canal project for 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan has become a political issue in the state, CM Ashok Gehlot and union minister for Jalshakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are taking on each other on the issue. Gehlot has attacked Shekhwat saying ‘ if Shekhawat cannot convince PM for a project of his state then why is a minister’. While Shekhawat said ‘ the behaviour of minister of Gehlot government and CM himself, intending to politicize the issue is not normal.’
The issue is in the limelight for the last two days as in a conference of Jal Jivan Misson in Jaipur on Friday the union minister Shekhawat had claimed that PM Modi had not made any promise to declare Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) a national project. He even challenged the minister of the state government Mahesh Joshi that if he proved that PM had made any such announcement he will leave politics.
CM Ashok Gehlot, on the same evening, Tweeted the speeches of PM Modi of 2018 in which he had said that the central government will consider this project. Gehlot said that he is just reminding the minister of the promise made by the PM.
Replying to this Shekhawat said that ‘ those who raise demands only for political gains should remember that this is the Modi government. We do what we say He added that work will be done on ERCP and the central government is committed to fulfilling it
It is to mention here that the political rivalry between Gehlot and Shekhawat is not new. Shekhawat is the MP from Jodhpur, the home city of CM Ashok Gehlot and he had defeated Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot in the election,
Congress also accused Shekhawat of toppling the Gehlot government in July 2020 based on an alleged phone call and in return to this Shekhawat had lodged a case against the OSD of CM Gehlot in Delhi accusing him of phone tapping,
What is ERCP
Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) is a project first proposed by former CM Vasundhara Raje in her last regime. It is a project to take water to 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan from Chambal. The project costs around 37500 crores and looking at Raje had proposed to announce it as a national project. It was made an election issue also during the 2018 assembly elections and now CM Gehlot is pushing this project and asking MPs of Bjp to get it cleared from PM and as Shekhawat is the Jalshakti minister, Gehlot is attacking him also.
