JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday sacked Rajendra Gudha as minister of state, hours after he cornered the state government over law and order in the assembly.
Gudha held charge as Minister of State for Sainik Kalyan (Independent Charge), Home Guard and Civil Defence, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development.
A Raj Bhavan spokesperson said, "Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot recommended Governor Kalraj Mishra to dismiss a member of the council of ministers Rajendra Gudha in the evening. The governor has accepted this recommendation with immediate effect."
Gudha on Friday questioned his own government's performance in reining in crimes against women, even as his peers slammed the Manipur violence.
During the discussion on the Rajasthan Minimum Income Guaranteed Bill, 2023, in the Assembly, Congress MLAs waved placards on the Manipur violence.
The protest, however, did not go down well with Gudha, who sought accountability from his own government on crimes against women.
"The way we have failed to provide security to women in Rajasthan and atrocities on women have increased, instead of raising the issue of Manipur, we should introspect," Gudha said in the assembly.
Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore latched onto Gudha's statement and slammed the state government, saying Rajasthan tops the chart for crimes against women.
Rathore later asked Gehlot, who is also the home minister, to take responsibility for the "poor" state of law and order in Rajasthan.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal responded to the charges, saying that the state government has supplied the House with the statistics that show that the maximum number of atrocities were committed on women during BJP rule.
Hours later, after a green signal from the party's high command, Gehlot sent a recommendation to the governor to sack Gudha.
Following his sacking, Gudha told reporters that he was punished for speaking the truth. "Rajasthan is at the number one position in crimes against women. What did I say? I got the punishment for speaking the truth," he said.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Meena sided with Gudha and said he spoke the truth in the assembly.
"Law and order in Rajasthan has deteriorated and crimes against women have increased multifold. The minister had expressed what is true," he said.
Gudha, who is among six MLAs who won the 2018 assembly elections on a BSP ticket before defecting to the Congress in September 2019, was inducted as a minister in November 2021. He represents Jhunjhunu's Udaipurwati constituency.
Gudha and other MLAs who won on a BSP ticket had supported Gehlot in July 2020, during his tussle with his then-deputy Sachin Pilot, which had led to a political crisis.
However, in the last few months, Gudha has made statements in favour of Pilot. He has also caused embarrassment to the Congress-led government with his recent statements.
In a widely circulated video a few days ago, he was heard saying that Gehlot and Pilot were running after him, so there must be some quality in him.
Gudha also launched a scathing attack on the Congress government and alleged that the dispensation had surpassed Karnataka's "40 per cent commission BJP government" in corruption.
While addressing a rally in support of Pilot in May, Gudha said, "Hamari sarkar ka alignment kharab ho gaya (our government's alignment has been disturbed). The record of corruption has been broken. There was an issue of 40 per cent corruption in Karnataka. Our government has surpassed it," he had said.
He also met AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi during his recent visit to the state.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the second day in a row on Friday following vociferous protests over the Manipur violence by opposition MPs.
The Monsoon session started on Thursday, a day after a horrific video of two women being sexually assaulted and paraded by a mob on May 4 in a Manipur village went viral.
'Sacked for telling the truth'
The BJP on Friday accused Gehlot of sacking Gudha for telling the truth and added that "it shows how serious the ruling Congress is about the issue of crimes against women."
Reacting to the minister's sacking, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said in a tweet in Hindi that Gehlot removed Gudha from his cabinet for telling "the truth."
"This shows how serious Congress is about harassment of women," the BJP leader charged.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat also targeted the Rajasthan chief minister and said in a tweet in Hindi, "Telling the truth is forbidden in Gehlot's regime."
"The chief minister does not have the courage to accept the truth. When his minister Rajendra Gudha ji told the truth in the assembly, Gehlot ji felt so bad that he removed him from the post itself," Shekhawat said. With this, Gehlot has warned his colleagues if they speak the truth, they will not be spared, the Union minister charged. "Intimidating one's own comrades, gagging them will also be called oppression," he added.