Sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha and his ‘red diary’ claims, explained

Sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Singh Gudha was removed from the Assembly after he created a ruckus on Monday (24 July). As per news agency PTI, the Congress MLA approached Speaker CP Joshi's chair with a "red diary", resulting in an augment between the two.Gudha also confronted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal and was eventually evicted from the state Assembly by House marshalls. The former minister claimed he was “punched and dragged” out of the Assembly by Congress leaders, as per News18.The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs also created uproar inside the Assembly over the “red diary” which, as per Gudha, contains details of alleged irregular financial transactions that implicate Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.Who is Rajendra Singh Gudha? Why was he fired from the Rajasthan government? We explain.Who is Rajendra Singh Gudha?Rajendra Gudha is the Congress MLA from Udaipurwati seat in Jhunjhunu. However, he had fought the2018 Assembly elections on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. In September next year, he, along with five other BSP MLAs, defected to the Congress.“In order to fight communal forces in Rajasthan, and for the development of the state and for the stability of the government, we decided this. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is a leader of all 36 qaum (communities), and there can be no leader better than him for Rajasthan,” Gudha had told Indian Express in 2019.During the induction of the six BSP MLAs into Congress, Gudha was Gehlot’s “point person”, reported News18.But this was not the first time that the politician had “betrayed” the BSP for Congress. In 2008, Gudha had won Udaipurwati on a BSP ticket and the next year, he joined Congress.Gudha was inducted as a minister in November 2021, noted PTI. Before he was axed from the government on Friday (21 July), Gudha held the portfolios of Sainik Kalyan (Independent Charge), Home Guard and Civil Defence (Independent Charge) and Panchayati Raj and Rural Development department.[caption id="attachment_12909562" align="alignnone" width="640"]

Rajendra Singh Gudha has claimed a 'red diary' can implicate Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. PTI File Photo of Gehlot[/caption]According to News18, problems emerged when Gudha was appointed as the minister of state for Sainik Kalyan and Panchayati Raj. He was rarely allotted “meaty work”, which upset him. Tensions rose between him and Gehlot when the five defected BSP MLAs started taking the chief minister’s side rather than Gudha's, reported News18.Now seen as a leader of Sachin Pilot’s camp, Gudha has been making statements against the Gehlot government since last year. According to Indian Express, he had said at a Pilot rally in May this year, “Rajasthan government’s alignment has gone wrong. Our government has crossed all limits of corruption. In Karnataka, the charge was 40 per cent (commission) but our government here has gone beyond that.”Why was he sacked?Gehlot removed Gudha as a minister in his government after he criticised the government over crimes against women in the state while speaking in the Rajasthan Assembly.“In Rajasthan, it is the truth that we have failed when it comes to women's safety. The manner in which crimes against women have increased in Rajasthan, we should introspect rather than (talk on) Manipur,” Gudha had said in the House on Friday, as per Indian Express.Speaking to reporters today, Gudha, as per PTI, said, "I was sacked for my 15-second statement in which I said that women in Rajasthan are not safe and crimes against them are on the rise. They accused me of working with the BJP and asked me apologise. I want to ask why should I apologise and what is my mistake”.

Since his removal, the ex-minister has been hinting at the existence of a “red diary”. According to Gudha, on Gehlot’s “instructions”, he had secured the “red diary” from the house of Congress leader Dharmendra Rathore, when it was raided by the Income Tax department in 2020, reported Indian Express.“Had Rajendra Gudha not been there, Mukhyamantriji, you would have been in jail… That day, the CM said, ‘Gudha, everything is now in your hands’. After that if I had not gone up to the ninth floor, dodging 150 CRPF jawans, broken the gate and brought that (diary) back, Gehlot saab would have been in jail and not been the chief minister”, he said at an event in Jhunjhunu on Sunday, as per the newspaper.Gudha has claimed the diary has “details of all the financial transactions which happened in do number (black money)… Who was given money for cricket (association) elections, Rajya Sabha, which MLA got how much money during the political crisis (in 2020)….”, reported Indian Express.The chief minister’s son Vaibhav Gehlot is heading the Rajasthan Cricket Association.Following his eviction from the Assembly today, Gudha, as per Indian Express, said: “If there was nothing in that diary, then why did all the MLAs pounce on me and snatch it from me? They beat me up, (Congress leader Shanti) Dhariwal kicked me… I wanted to table the diary in the Assembly.”He also declared he will go among the public on Tuesday and reveal the "secrets" of the diary, reported Hindustan Times.While the Congress has rejected Gudha’s claims as “baseless”, the BJP is trying to corner the Rajasthan government over the allegations.With inputs from agencies