Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday dared Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to resign on ‘red diary’ issue and contest the upcoming assembly elections due in December 2023.
“If you (Gehlot) have any shame left, then resign on the issue of red diary and come to the election field and have a face to face contest,” Shah told a ‘Kisan Sahakarita Rally’ organised by IFFCO at Gangapur in Sawaimadhopur district.
Upset by the protesters who were raising slogans during his address on the demand of Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, Shah said: “I have come to tell Mr Gehlot that nothing is done by sending these people raising slogans.”
“Instead of raising slogans, they would have expanded the Chandrayaan-3 programme… Had they (Congress) formed the Ministry of Cooperation, they would not have had to raise slogans,” he said.
When the sloganeering did not stop, Shah asked the farmers not to pay their attention to them. “Gehlot ji has sent some people, who will go after the program in five minutes. Please be seated.”
Shah said: “I didn’t want to do politics but I was forced. Dilip Bhai (IFFCO Chairman Dilip Sanghani) is innocent. They sent me the folder. I asked not to keep this folder in the meeting, because Gehlot would get angry. Then the Chairman asked me – “What is there in this that will get him irritated.”
“Actually, the colour of this folder was red. They don’t know that the CM is very scared of the red diary,” he commented.
Hailing the Modi Government’s nine year in power at the Centre, Shah said recently Indian Chandrayan-3 landed at the South Pole of the Moon successfully and this success created new energy and confidence in every citizen of the country.
“In the last 70 years, the previous Congress government did nothing for farmers. It is the Modi Government that has executed many cooperative works for the welfare of farmers and launched many new schemes for them. Today the central government is giving Rs 6000 to every farmer,” he said.
He said that PM Modi has increased the agriculture budget six times. It was just Rs 22000 crore in the Congress regime. Now it is Rs 1.25 lakh crore. The food production of crops, cereals and other crops have increased tremendously with new innovations, he said.
Earlier, Shah and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla released a book written on cooperatives in the conference. All BJP MLAs were present on the dais.
It is pertinent to mention that on July 21 the Chief Minister had sacked Rajendra Singh Gudha for assailing his own government on the pretext of poor law and order situation in the state.