Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha election: Ashok Gehlot alleges Vasundhara Raje govt patronised liquor, land and sand mafia

Udaipur: Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Saturday attacked Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on the issue of corruption and claimed that the state government led by her patronised the liquor, land and sand mafia. The AICC general secretary, who is contesting the 7 December elections from Jodhpur’s Sardarpura seat, is conducting electioneering in Mewar region for the party. “No government in Rajasthan had ever patronised any mafia but the Vasundhara Raje government did that. Land, liquor and sand mafia flourished in her rule in connivance with officers,” Gehlot told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_4291973” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ashok Gehlot. Twitter/@ashokgehlot511[/caption] “Raje bowed before the party president but never met people in five years. Instead of bowing before Shah, she should have taken care of the people of Rajasthan who gave such a huge mandate in the 2013 elections. But she betrayed the people,” the former Rajasthan chief minister said. Gehlot alleged that the BJP government in five years only worked to weaken schemes launched by former Congress government and stalled various important projects in the state. “During the Congress government rule, there were 25 lakh people engaged in MGNREGA works, but now the number has reduced to just 2.5 lakh,” he said. Gehlot alleged that the government spent crores of rupees on Resurgent Rajasthan and now the government should disclose that how much investment was made in the state in five years. The Resurgent Rajasthan summit was held in 2015 to attract investment in the state. Gehlot said the Ram temple was just an election issue for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “The BJP uses the name of Lord Ram during elections only. They have no genuine intention and they have been exposed before the public now,” he said.