Ashok Gehlot Sacks Minister Who Cornered His Govt Over Crimes Against Women In Rajasthan

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday sacked Rajendra Gudha as minister of state, hours after he cornered the state government in the assembly, sources said.

"Rajendra Gudha has been terminated from the post of minister of state," an official source told PTI.

Gudha held charge as Minister of State for Sainik Kalyan (Independent Charge), Home Guard and Civil Defence, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development.

Gudha on Friday questioned his own government's performance in reining in the crimes against women, even as his peers slammed the Manipur violence.

During the discussion on the Rajasthan Minimum Income Guarantee Bill 2023 in the state Assembly, Congress MLAs waved placards on the Manipur violence, but the protest did not go down well with Gudha, who sought accountability from his own government on crimes inflicted 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 the Opposition Rajendra Rathore slammed the state government saying Rajasthan tops the chart of crimes against women.

"Cabinet minister Rajendra Gudha himself is stating the reality of atrocities being done on sisters and daughters in Rajasthan. According to Article 164(2) of the Constitution, the cabinet works on the basis of collective responsibility and the state of a minister is considered to be that of the entire cabinet," Rathore later tweeted.

He also asked Chief Minister Ashok 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.