Sacked Congress minister Rajendra Gudha on Wednesday made public three pages of the purported “red diary”, which he claimed contains details of corruption and unscrupulous transactions in the Rajasthan Cricket Association, headed by chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav.
Gudha has claimed that he retrieved the “red diary” on Gehlot’s insistence from Congress leader Dharmendra Rathore’s house during Income Tax raids in July 2020. However, Gehlot had last week dismissed the allegations, saying no such red diary existed. The red diary has been used by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to target the Congress government ahead of the crucial assembly elections scheduled for later this year.
Addressing a press conference, Gudha on Wednesday alleged the three pages contain details of financial transactions between Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot, who is the president of RCA, association’s secretary Bhawani Samota and others.
“Vaibhav and I talked about the RCA election… that how Bhawani Samota is not giving people their money,” Gudha read out to reporters, from what he claimed were pages of the red diary. “Discussed RCA election account settlement with Bhawani Samota and Rajiv Khanna. Samota has not fulfilled the promise he made to people... Samota said he will apprise CP Saheb. Then tell me finally by January 31.”
Gudha claimed the handwriting in the diary was that of Dharmendra Rathore.
{{/usCountry}}Gudha claimed the handwriting in the diary was that of Dharmendra Rathore.
{{/usCountry}}“Called Sobhag ji, PS to CM, and asked him to do settle the RCA accounts. He said he would talk to CM saheb and tell me,” Gudha read further from the pages.
Reacting to the allegations, Rathore said Gudha, who he has known for several years, did come to his house when I-T officials raided his house, but the two never spoke of the red diary.
“Income tax department officials took three diaries from my residence, which were Gandhi diaries. They have mentioned it in their record,” he said, dismissing allegations made by Gudha.
Vaibhav Gehlot said neither Rathore nor anyone else had spoken to him regarding any RCA accounts.
Samota too dismissed Gudha’s allegations as baseless, saying: “Anyone can write anything and make any claims. I have not had any interaction with Dharmendra Rathore for several years now.”
Gudha, the MLA from Udaipurwati assembly constituency, who was elected on a BSP ticket in 2018 and then switched to the Congress, has been targeting Gehlot since he was sacked from the cabinet on July 21 after he cornered his own party government in the Assembly over the issue of crimes against women in the state.
He was suspended from the remainder of the state assembly on July 24 following unruly scenes after he tried to raise the issue of the red diary in the House.
Gudha said 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.
He denied using the red diary to blackmail the government, while accusing the Congress dispensation of blackmailing him.
“The government is filing false cases against me. They are planning to send me to jail. (Rajasthan Congress in-charge Sukhjinder) Randhawa asked me to apologise. Why should I apologise? Is it wrong to talk about crimes against women and security of women in the state?” he said.
Gudha, who was the minister of state for Sainik Kalyan (independent charge), home guard and civil defence, said if he was jailed, the details of the diary will be made public by his close associate.
The BJP has targeted the Gehlot government, citing the red diary, with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi referring to it.
“The red diary is the biggest issue currently. The revelations Gudha, a close confidant of Gehlot, is making puts a question mark over the morality of the government,” Union Jal Shakti minister and Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhwat tweeted. “People are thinking how someone who does such wheeling dealing can remain the head of the state.”