Rajendra Gudha releases 3 pages of 'red diary', alleges corruption in RCA election

Jaipur: Sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha on Wednesday made public three pages of the purported "red diary" which he has claimed contains the details of financial misdeeds of the Congress government and cited their contents to allege corruption in the Rajasthan Cricket Association election.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had last week dismissed Gudha's allegations, saying that no such red diary existed, after the MLA had claimed that he had secured it on Gehlot's direction from RTDC Chairman Dharmendra Rathore's residence during an IT department raid in 2020.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Gudha alleged that the three pages contain details of financial transactions between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot and RCA secretary Bhawani Samota and others.

Vaibhav Gehlot is presently Chairman of the RCA.

"I am speaking based on facts that votes were bought in the RCA election. Votes were bought 100 per cent," Gudha alleged.

In one of the pages of the purported diary, it is alleged that "Bhawani Samota is not giving people's money" and he "did not fulfil the promise he had made to most of the people".

Gudha said that the handwriting in the diary can be matched with that of Ashok Gehlot's aide Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) Chairman Dharmendra Rathore.

He said some pages of the diary were missing, but he will release the pages that he has.

Gudha has been targeting Gehlot since he was sacked from the cabinet after he cornered his own party government in the Assembly over the issue of crimes against women in the state.

After he claimed to have the 'red diary', the BJP had latched onto the issue to target the Gehlot government, with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi referring to it.

Gudha was suspended from the state assembly on July 24 following unruly scenes after he tried to raise the issue of the red diary in the House.

Asked why he has not filed a police complaint for a probe into the diary's contents, Gudha said, "I wanted to table the diary in House and was demanding to get the probe done by the ED, CBI and IT department, but was not allowed to speak." Reacting to Gudha's move, the BJP said the red diary is not a fiction and people want to know the truth from Chief Minister Gehlot.

"The pages of the red diary have exposed the dark deeds of ‘Rajkumar’ Vaibhav Gehlot ji of the Congress government of the state. Now waiting for the truth of the complete diary? The public wants to know the truth from you Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot ji... Red Diary is not a fiction,” BJP state president CP Joshi said.

On allegations that he was trying to "blackmail" the government, Gudha said, "I am not blackmailing the government but it is the government which is blackmailing me.

"Cases are being lodged on me. I am being asked to apologise by Congress state-incharge Sukhjinder Randhawa. Pressure is being mounted on me." He wondered what mistake he had made for which he was being asked to apologise.

He said he had just said that members who were raising the Manipur violence issue in the House should introspect first.

"State incharge Sukhjinder Randhawa and Congress president Dotasra are in his (Gehlot's) pockets. If I am jailed, it will be the end of this government." He said that he is releasing the pages of the diary "step-by-step as a part of his strategy" as cases are being lodged against him by the government one after the other.

The MLA from Udaipurwati assembly constituency, who was elected on a BSP ticket in 2018 and then switched to the Congress, said that if he is jailed the details of the diary will be made public by his loyalists.

Gudha held charge as the minister of state for Sainik Kalyan (Independent Charge), Home Guard and Civil Defence, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development. PTI AG RT RT RT