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Ashok Gehlot
The Congress on Saturday escalated its attack on the Election Commission, with senior party leader Ashok Gehlot alleging that the poll body has failed to respond to questions raised by Rahul Gandhi over alleged "vote theft" during the Haryana elections. In a post on X, Gehlot said the BJP, which "fell short of the 272-seat mark after being caught in the act of theft," had now "got 272 people to sign a letter against Rahul Gandhi to defend the Election Commission." Calling it "unfortunate", he said the letter appeared to have been issued under pressure by individuals who had served for decades in the bureaucracy, judiciary or armed forces. Gehlot further alleged that the EC was "working entirely in favour of the BJP and the NDA," pointing out that Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was being conducted "in haste" across 12 states despite related cases pending before the Supreme Court. He said Rahul Gandhi was fighting to safeguard democratic institutions and added, .
The Congress on Friday slammed NDA leaders for not allowing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to speak at the release of the ruling coalition's manifesto for the state assembly polls, claiming it was an insult to Bihar and Biharis. Talking to reporters here, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also claimed that the NDA's manifesto release programme lasted only 26 seconds, as the leaders were afraid of facing questions from journalists about their 20-year rule. CM Nitish Kumar, his deputy Samrat Choudhary, BJP president JP Nadda, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Chirag Paswan and other leaders of alliance partners released the NDA's manifesto in less than a minute. All then left the venue, except the deputy CM who remained and answered a few questions from journalists. An announcement was made from the dais that the leaders had to leave as they had poll-related engagements. "The NDA leaders came to the press conference which lasted merely 26 seconds. They were afraid
Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday hit out at the BJP government in Rajasthan over the alleged deaths of children after consuming cough syrup, accusing it of corruption and neglect. "Rajasthan used to be an example not only in India but also worldwide because in 2011, the Congress government had launched the free medicine scheme, which was later adopted by several other states and countries," Gehlot said. He alleged that it was "deeply shameful" that such an ideal scheme was being defamed under the BJP government due to deaths caused by cough syrup. "Instead of taking responsibility for these deaths, the state government is not even acknowledging them. This shows that corruption in the Rajasthan BJP government has reached a level where they do not even care about human lives," he said. At least three children have allegedly died after consuming cough syrup in different districts of the state. However, the government has claimed that the syrup alleged to have caused illnes
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said Congress is in favour of Hindi but English opens new avenues in the world for everyone. Gehlot's comments came a day after Home Minister Amit Shah's reported remarks on English. "Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi and all of us are also in favour of Hindi but English is an international language which opens new avenues in the world for everyone," Gehlot said in a post on X. "Home Minister Shah and many people of BJP-RSS are against English although the people of the country know that the children of most of the Union ministers are studying abroad and they confuse the people here," the Congress leader said. During childhood, we also used to oppose English but it has become the need of the hour, so we also changed our 'approach', he said. Today, in the era of computers, internet, Artificial Intelligence, the young generation can be completely successful in life through English, Gehlot said. The previous Congress government in ..
Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Girija Vyas, who suffered burn injuries in March while performing aarti at her home in Udaipur, has died at a hospital in Ahmedabad, her family said on Thursday. She was 79. Vyas's brother Gopal Sharma said that she succumbed to burn injuries at the Ahmedabad hospital this evening. The Congress leader was performing aarti on March 31 during which her dupatta caught fire from a burning lamp and she suffered critical burn injuries. She was rushed to a private hospital in Udaipur and was later shifted to Ahmedabad. Her funeral will be conducted in Udaipur on Friday, Sharma said. Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, former CM Ashok Gehlot, and Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra expressed grief over the death of Vyas. Sharma said Vyas's life was dedicated to public service and that she will always be remembered as a popular leader due to her gentle behaviour. The chief minister prayed to God to give a place to the depa
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday alleged that the current BJP government in the state is holding back the work done by his government and is not inaugurating them. "The BJP government is holding back the work of our government to take credit," Gehlot said in a statement on 'X'. He claimed the Congress government had opened institutions with professional courses to provide new opportunities for the new generation, but their progress has been held back after the new government came. He said the new building of the Haridev Joshi University is ready in Dahmi Kalan, Jaipur, but it is not being shifted there from Khasa Kothi. "Our government had approved the recruitment of academic and non-academic staff in the university, but the recruitment has not been done yet," he said. The same situation is more or less with Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Law University, which is also being run from the education complex instead of its new building, he alleged. "Why are these universiti
The BJP government of Rajasthan has decided to dissolve nine districts formed by the previous Congress dispensation, saying they were neither "practical" nor in "public interest". Three new divisions were also dissolved in a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Saturday. The state will now only have seven divisions and 41 districts, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Law Minister Jogaram Patel said. In another decision taken in the cabinet meeting, CET scores would be valid for three years in Rajasthan, instead of one year. The state Congress leadership has condemned the decision and said that it will move court if needed. The previous Ashok Gehlot government had formed 17 new districts and three new divisions. It had also issued a notification for three new districts, which is also being cancelled by the Bhajan Lal Sharma government. Minister Jogaram Patel said that decisions were taken on the basis of a report by a cabinet sub-committee and an exp
Rajasthan former chief minister Ashok Gehlot's ex-OSD Lokesh Sharma has turned approver in a phone tapping case that happened during the political crisis in the state in 2020. In March 2021, Delhi Police registered an FIR against Sharma on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telephonic conversations on a complaint from Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and he was questioned multiple times in connection with the case. Sharma last week moved an application in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Patiala house courts complex in Delhi, which was accepted by the court on Monday. After the development, Sharma said he was worried for his and his family's safety and he has been frequently getting threats. His advocate Rohan Vadhwa said, "After a confessional statement recorded before the magistrate and no objection by the crime branch, Sharma was given a pardon and now he has turned approver." He said no names were given in the ...
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