BJP MP leads march against ‘corruption’ in Rajasthan

PTI, Jun 13, 2023, 4:11 PM IST

BJP MP Kirodi Meena on Tuesday said his party will expose the corrupt practices of minister Shanti Dhariwal and ”scams” related to mining and the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme in the Congress-run state.

Addressing party workers at a public meeting here before a march towards the secretariat, Meena claimed there was a scam of Rs 5,000 crore in the Department of Information and Technology (DoIT) but when the Anti-Corruption Bureau wanted permission to investigate, the chief minister refused.

‘The BJP will expose a mining scam in the days to come. Also, a scam in Jal Jeevan Mission and corruption cases of Urban Development and Housing Minister Shanti Dhariwal will be exposed,” he said.

Meena claimed for the first time in the country, Rs 2.31 crore cash and one kilogram of gold were recovered from an almirah at a government building.

A DoIT joint director was arrested last month after the cash and the gold were found in the almirah in the basement of the Yojna Bhawan here.

”Corruption is rampant under the Gehlot government. Sixteen competitive exams were held in one year in Rajasthan and the papers of all of them were leaked. Now, the Enforcement Directorate has come and started investigating, and therefore Gehlot is afraid,” Meena said.

He alleged that after the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers- 21 paper leak case, the chairman of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education D P Jaroli was terminated by the government but the Special Operations Group, which investigated the case, did not question him and even gave him a clean chit.

REET-21 was conducted by the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education.

Meena said ED has come one year after the complaint of the REET paper leak case. ”The ED has come with full preparations,” he added.

The Rajya Sabha MP said Gehlot should ”take off the cloak of honesty”. He reiterated money laundering allegations against Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot, who is the Rajasthan Cricket Association president.

Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore, BJP state-in-charge Arun Singh and other leaders also addressed the meeting before the march to the secretariat and a demonstration there on issues of corruption and paper leaks.