The war of words between Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat continued after the latter on Thursday called Gehlot and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi liars.
Both leaders have accused each other of being involved in various scams and levelled allegations since Sunday’s exchange of words when Gehlot accused Shekhawat and his family of being involved in the Sanjeevani scam in which thousands of investors allegedly lost around ₹900 crore.
The union minister on Thursday made a series of Tweets to attack the Rajasthan government.
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He also dragged Rahul Gandhi in his Tweet saying, “Rahul Gandhi can’t count beyond 10, or else he would have been counting his party’s false promises till today. If Gehlot Ji is made to take a lie detector test, the red button will light up even before he says anything.”
In another tweet, he attached a paper cutting of the Community Health Officer exam paper leak and said, “They can’t manage even one exam but are making a string of announcements.”
“Rajasthan is being riddled with bullets every day but the CM is busy saving himself. Such a CM can never provide security to the public. The state of affairs is such that the state home department will have to be shut down,” Shekhawat wrote on Twitter sharing another Tweet which showed a video of a trader being shot in Bharatpur in broad daylight.
The latest exchanges only underline the animosity between the two leaders from Jodhpur, which has become a high-profile seat.
In the last elections, Shekhawat gave a drubbing to Gehlot’s son Vaibhav.
Political analyst Manish Godha said the aggressive manner in which the two leaders were attacking each other and the personal attacks give the perception that this matter extends beyond just the Sanjeevani scam. “It seems Vaibhav’s loss still hurts Gehlot. He is sparing no effort to bring Shekhawat on the back foot,” he said.
Jodhpur has been Gehlot’s pocket borough and he wants to retain his hold, Godha added.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) insiders say Gehlot is trying to dent Shekhawat’s image. “CM is also the home minister, the state police is under him, why did he not arrest Shekhawat if he’s guilty? CM is trying to malign Shekhawat’s image, play politics and create political space for his son,” said a BJP leader.
Chairperson of the social welfare board and former Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma said the union minister was making personal comments out of frustration.
“As Jal Shakti minister he failed to get any projects for Rajasthan. He was unable to do justice with the mandate that he got. He tried to topple the state government and was exposed. So, out of frustration, he is making these personal comments,” she said.
The exchange of words began on Sunday when the CM accused Shekhawat of being involved in the Sanjeevani scam.
Shekhawat hit back the next day, saying the CM was trying to defame him and indulging in political assassination. He added that the CM wanted to take revenge for Vaibhav’s shameful defeat in the 2018 assembly elections.
Sharpening his attack, Gehlot then accused Shekhawat’s father and mother, wife and five brothers-in-law of being involved in the scam.
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Talking to the media in the secretariat on Wednesday, Gehlot said, “Shekhawat is facing charges but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made such a person a minister. The PM should get him investigated.”
Gehlot also alleged that Shekhawat was involved in a conspiracy to topple his government in 2019.
On Sunday too, Gehlot alleged that Shekhawat is an accused in the Sanjivani scam. Meanwhile, responding to Gehlot’s accusations, Shekhawat on Monday claimed that the Special Operations Group (SOG) has filed three chargesheets in the Sanjeevani case in court but did not mention Shekhawat or anyone from his family as being involved in the case.
Shekhawat said the CM was also trying to falsely implicate him in the conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government in 2019.
On Tuesday night, Gehlot took to Twitter to rebut the union minister and said Shekhawat has been charged under the same sections as other arrested accused in the Sanjeevani case.
“You are a Union minister yourself. If you are innocent, why don’t you come forward to get back the money of the poor?” Gehlot said in his tweet.
On handing over the investigation into the scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Gehlot said the “agency is in Shekhawat’s pocket”.