Barely 30 minutes ahead of the Rajasthan Assembly session after a long recess at 11:00 am, Rajendra Gudha, the sacked minister of the Gehlot cabinet, on Wednesday allegedly released three pages of the controversial ‘Red Diary’  causing ripples in politics.

At a press conference called at his residence at 10:30 am, Gudha alleged that in these pages, RTDC Chairman Dharmendra Rathore, a close aide of the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, mentioned about the transaction with the CM’s son and Rajasthan Cricket Association Secretary Bhavani Samota, among others.

Three pages underlined with highlighter three points have been mentioned:

1. Vaibhavji (CM’s son) and I (RTDC Chairman) discussed RCA election expenses, how Bhavani Samota is not giving money to the people after deciding now.
2. But Rajiv Khana and Samota came, calculated the RCA election…Samota has not fulfilled the promise he has made to most of the people..I said it is not right… If you fulfill it then Samota said that I will put it in the information of CP sir…then I will tell you by 31 January.
3. Called the PS of the CM and said that I need to calculate the RCA account..I was told that he would tell me after talking to the CM.

He further alleged that the transactions shown in the three pages are written by the RTDC chairman. Gudha accused the Congress government of blackmailing him and registering false cases against him. He said there was only one Congress that is ‘Gehlot Congress’, PCC President Govind Singh Dotasara, and Party In-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa are Gehlot’s pocket leaders.

Gudha recounted when Gehlot told a gathering of 50-60 thousand people at his house on his son’s birthday, “If Gudha was not there, I would not have been the chief minister.”

“Now, I ask what has suddenly gone wrong with Gudha. I want to ask Randhawa what is wrong with me talking about the safety of sisters and daughters in the assembly. What should I apologise for,” Gudha asked.

It is pertinent to mention here that RTDC Chairman Rathore had clarified in a statement on July 26 that there was no ‘red diary’ in his house when the Income Tax Department raided his premises during the crisis in the Congress government in 2020.

Rather said he used to write routine affairs in the Gandhi Diary. Three of his diaries were taken away by IT officials. He said it must be in IT records.

On his relations with the rebel leader, he said, “I have family terms with Gudha who once lived in my house some ten years ago. Many of my other friends and political personalities told me about Gudha’s misbehaviour and unreliability by nature. His background was not good, even then I supported him when he left BSP and joined the Congress twice in 2009, and 2019”.

On July 21, the chief minister had sacked Gudha for his remarks favouring atrocities on women in Manipur and assailing his own government and the law and order situation in the state. He blamed the situation for the rise in rape and atrocities on women in the state. The Rajasthan Assembly also suspended Gudha for the rest of the session on July 24 for his unruly behaviour.