Rajasthan Election 2023: CM Ashok Gehlot Blames Union Jal Shakti Minister For State's Water Woes

Rajasthan CM Gehlot said the state government is now funding even works like the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project.

Gehlot said the state government is now funding even works like the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project.

JODHPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has slammed Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on the issue of water shortage in the state. "Jodhpur MP Shekhawat is the Union Jal Shakti minister. In spite of that the people of his home constituency have been suffering and he is not worried at all," Gehlot said in his public address in Barmer on Friday. Earlier, the Centre used to provide 90 per cent funds for water projects, which have now been reduced to half, he claimed. Gehlot said the state government is now funding even works like the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project. "We can have our share of water from Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana. But this minister is least bothered," Gehlot charged.

Referring to Shekhawat's alleged involvement in the Sanjeevani Credit Co-operative Society scam, the chief minister asked Shekhawat to come forward and talk to the depositors of the society. Gehlot claimed that he even spoke to Shekhawat's mentor Bhagwan Singh Rolsahabsar and told him that his disciple is allegedly not returning money of the depositors. "But nothing happened. He might also be under some compulsion for not exhorting Shekhawat to return the money," he added. Shekhawat has dismissed allegations linking him to the credit society and has also filed a defamation case in a Delhi court against Gehlot. The Rajasthan chief minister also spoke about the welfare schemes by his government, saying since the BJP has no reply to these schemes, they are defaming the Congress and misleading people.

At another public meeting in Pali district's Rohet, Gehlot also slammed the Centre for not taking any stand on the ongoing protests by wrestlers against outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh. "Our wrestler daughters have been sitting in Delhi since long. But the Centre has nothing to do with that. All the medal winner players of the country are disappointed today," Gehlot added.

The Delhi Police has registered two FIRs against Singh. The FIRs lodged on the basis of complaints from six women wrestlers and the father of a minor narrate several alleged instances of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, groping, stalking and intimidation by Singh at different times and places, including in foreign countries, over a decade.