Corruption crossed all limits during Raje regime: Gehlot

Jaipur: Lashing out at his predecessor Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said that during the five-year rule of BJP corruption crossed all limits and conspiracies abounded to destabilise communal harmony in the state.

Addressing a rally in Bharatpur district ahead of the December 1 Assembly polls, Gehlot said Raje during her rule tried to crush the Gujjar agitation by killing 70 protesters in police firing. "Gujjars held agitations during our rule also, but we did not allow use of force for a single time. Leave firing, we did not allow even a lathicharge on them," Gehlot said. "It was the Raje-led government which tried to crush the agitation. We tried to resolve the issue of reservation for Gujjars amicably, peacefully," he said. Dubbing BJP "the mother of corruption", Gehlot alleged that corruption was rampant during the BJP rule, and outsiders were involved in the practice with the then government. He highlighted a number of schemes and programmes launched by his government and pointed out that commitment of "zero discrimination, zero corruption and zero harassment" in the Congress manifesto shows the party`s thought. At another rally in Mangrole town of Baran district, Gehlot said Raje was being accompanied by leaders from outside in her rallies and local leaders are ignored. "She is electioneering with leaders from outside like Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Kirit Somaiya, Bhupendra Yadav instead of (local leaders) Ghanshyam Tiwari, Lalit Kishor Chaturvedi, Harishankar Bhabhra, Ramdas Agrawal and Om Mathur. It seems that she has no trust on them (local leaders).