4 min readJaipurJul 24, 2023 03:34 PM IST
First published on: Jul 24, 2023 at 01:47 PM IST
In unprecedented scenes inside the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Monday, sacked minister Rajendra Gudha allegedly scuffled with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal, with Rafeek Khan and other Congress MLAs rushing in to intervene and protect the 79-year-old Dhariwal.
After the Question Hour got over around noon, BJP MLAs stormed the well on the issue of the ‘red diary’, which, as per Gudha, contains incriminating details of the Ashok Gehlot government’s ‘misdeeds’. Gudha also entered the well and started raising a red diary before Speaker C P Joshi, who kept repeating to Gudha, “Please! This is not the way, “I will not allow this”, “Don’t compel me!”, “Come to my chamber!” and “You cannot dictate me”.
As this continued for several minutes and Gudha did not yield, Joshi asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal “to move a motion (to expel Gudha)”. When Dhariwal got up to move the motion, an enraged Gudha rushed towards Dhariwal and pushed down the microphone on Dhariwal’s table. As Gudha and Dhariwal allegedly got into a scuffle, other Congress MLAs around them rushed to intervene.
Joshi then adjourned the House, and Gudha was evicted from it. After his eviction, Gudha was not allowed to enter even the Assembly building as several marshals crowded and stopped him. Usually, when an MLA is evicted, it is only from the House, not the Assembly building.
Later, talking to journalists, Gudha said, “Five to seven Congress people (MLAs), including ministers, punched me inside the House. They also kicked me. Dhariwal also assaulted me.”
Referring to his ‘red diary’, Gudha said, “The Vidhan Sabha has bigger criminals than those sitting in the jails for rape. Get a narco-test conducted on me and them.”
He claimed his red diary was snatched from him during the scuffle. “But I still have the other half (of the diary). All your misdeeds, buying of MLAs, what you gave to MLAs, including Independents, during Rajya Sabha (polls) … I will expose everything,” he said.
On Friday, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sacked Gudha as a minister after he criticised the state government in the Assembly over crimes against women.
During a House debate on the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, as Congress MLAs stormed the well over the Manipur issue and raised placards, Gudha got up and said: “In Rajasthan, it is the truth that we have failed when it comes to women safety. The manner in which crimes against women have increased in Rajasthan, we should introspect rather than (talk on) Manipur.”
The Opposition MLAs latched on to Gudha’s statement and chanted “shame! shame!”. Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore of the BJP said: “Our Constitution says that when one minister speaks, it means the entire government is speaking. A minister has exposed the government. I would like to congratulate him.”
By Friday evening, Governor Kalraj Mishra accepted Gehlot’s recommendation to sack Gudha as a minister. Gudha held the portfolios of Sainik Kalyan (independent charge), Home Guard and Civil Defence (independent charge) and Panchayati Raj and Rural Development department.
On Friday, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sacked Gudha as a minister after he criticised the state government in the Assembly over crimes against women. (File Image) 
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