Sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Singh Gudha cites red diary, alleges deals during cricket body poll

JAIPUR: Sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Singh Gudha made public on Wednesday three handwritten texts that he claimed were from a controversial “red diary” that allegedly contains details of illegal transactions made to save chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s government during the political crisis created by Sachin Pilot’s rebellion as well as in the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) election in 2019.
Congress MLA Gudha alleged at a press conference in Jaipur that RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore, a close aide of Gehlot, mentioned transactions with the CM’s son, Vaibhav, and RCA secretary Bhavani Samota in the diary. The diary also allegedly contains references to purported correspondence with senior IAS officer P Ramesh and allegedly mentions two of the CM’s OSDs, Deva Ram Saini and Jugal Meena, and a third person, Shivendra Shekhawat.

Vaibhav was then contesting the RCA president’s election, which he won in October 2019. Gudha alleged the texts reveal that there was a discussion between Rathore and Vaibhav about RCA election expenses and how Samota did not fulfil promises made to some people. The Rajasthan assembly, meanwhile, was adjourned twice on Wednesday following disruptions by BJP members over the suspension of party MLA Madan Dilawar and demands for an inquiry into the disclosure of the “red diary”.

PCC president and Congress MLA Govind Singh Dotasra and PHED minister Mahesh Joshi raised objections to Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore’s reference to the “red diary” during Zero Hour, with Joshi saying, “This is the height of lying. It has become a training institute for BJP to tell lies. Which red diary? Who snatched it, BJP is constantly lying.”