BJP regime scrapping, weakening Cong govt's welfare schemes: Gehlot

Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday accused the state's BJP disposition of scrapping or weakening public welfare schemes launched by his government.

Alleging that the Centre failed to fulfil its promises, the veteran Congress leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should conduct a survey in the state to ascertain how much resentment there was due to the closure of these schemes.

Addressing Modi in a post on X, he said the previous Congress government launched several welfare schemes on the basis of the party's manifesto and implemented those on time. "Thus, the Congress government in Rajasthan set an example before the whole country, which benefited the public."  "The (current) BJP government in Rajasthan has closed or weakened all the schemes of the (previous) Congress government, which is causing a strong reaction among the public. You should conduct a study among the people of Rajasthan so that it can be known how much anger is there among the people due to the closure of the schemes," he added.

Gehlot also alleged that the Modi government had failed to fulfil the promises made to the people in 2014 and 2019.

"It is very sad to see a prime minister making such statements whose government has failed to keep up the promises made to the public in 2014 and 2019," he said, in an indirect reference to a public exchange of statements between Modi and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on the subject of "guarantees".