Gehlot flays PM, seeks white paper on Barmer refinery

: Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday criticised the BJP government at the centre and in Rajasthan on various issues.

He said people are disappointed as promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Vasundhara Raje remain unfulfilled. “People are unable to meet CM and ministers in Rajasthan. Schemes started by us (Congress government) are stalled or their names changed. When our government will be formed, we will not stop any project. Nor did we in the past, but they made our projects silent,” he said.

Addressing reporters at his residence, Gehlot said, “It is natural, people compare (governments), assess performance and make up their mind. It seems this time Raje is not interested in governance, be it because of Modi factor or some other factor.”

The veteran Congress leader also attacked the Raje government over law and order issue. “Be it Samrau (Jodhpur) incident, where a youth was killed, but police did nothing, or any other incident, shows insensitive governance. If the ruling government had focused on issued raised by Opposition, such condition would not have arisen.”

Hitting out at the Prime Minister, he said Modi’s statements in Parliament related to Barmer refinery were “unfortunate”. “Sonia Gandhi does not lay foundation stone of any project for which the sanctions have not been issued,” he said.

He also accused the governments of not replying to the RTI related to the Barmer refinery and demanded “a white paper” on the refinery work.

Gehlot said, “If the refinery had been started in last four years, many people would have got jobs.”

He questioned the delay in refinery work. “Earlier also state had 26% stake in the refinery and even now it is same, then why was it stalled?” he asked. HTC

JAIPUR