Gehlot govt made many promises, nothing happened, cannot fool people: BJP MP Diya Kumari

Jaipur, Oct 23 (PTI) Erstwhile royal family member and BJP candidate Diya Kumari on Monday trashed the Congress' 'Kam Kiya Dil Se, Congress Fir Se' slogan in Rajasthan, saying it cannot 'fool people' by making announcements in the last 'three or four months' before the assembly polls.

In an interview with PTI, she dismissed the protest over former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's son-in-law Narpat Singh Rajvi being shifted from Jaipur's Vidhyadhar Nagar seat to make way for her.

"Such things keep happening. It happens in every election. Party works like a family and everything will be fine soon," she said.

The Congress is counting on welfare schemes launched by the Ashok Gehlot government over the past months to make a comeback in Rajasthan. Its election slogan 'Kam Kiya Dil Se, Congress Fir Se' also focuses on this. It suggests the state's Congress government put its heart into welfare schemes and deserves to come back to power.

"Don't know what they are talking about and what they are dreaming about. People of Rajasthan are completely fed up over the last five years. No work was done in Rajasthan due to their internal fight," Diya Kumari said, apparently referring to the Ashok Gehlot-Sachin Pilot tussle for power.

In the last six months, the Congress tried a lot to woo the people of Rajasthan, she added.

"The Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led government crossed the limits by making several announcements and promises before the election, but people have not got their benefits and nothing has been realised on the ground," the BJP leader alleged.

"You cannot fool people by making announcements in the last three to four months... People are wise and will give votes after much deliberation. They (Congress) had time but did not utilise it. Now, it is not right to talk about such things. Nothing will happen," Diya Kumari said.

The erstwhile Jaipur royal family member, who has earlier represented Sawai Madhopur as an MLA in the Rajasthan assembly, is the BJP's sitting MP from the Rajsamand parliamentary seat.

After the BJP announced Diya Kumari's name as its candidate for the Vidhyadhar Nagar assembly seat, a section of party workers protested the denial of the ticket to Rajvi. The party later decided to field Rajvi from the Chittorgarh assembly seat.

Asked about it, she said that several issues crop up during elections but instead of getting on those, collective focus should be on forming a BJP government in the state.

With the Rajasthan assembly election slated to be held on November 25, Diya Kumari said atrocities on women, law and order collapse, paper leaks, unemployment and high fuel prices are some of the major issues she would raise in her public meetings in the days to come.

"They (Congress government) promised to give unemployment allowance. Till now, they have not given anything to anyone... They did not do anything for the common people. They made tall claims but no one got the benefits in reality," she alleged.

Kumari exuded confidence that the BJP will form the government in the state after winning the election.

She told PTI that her would focus on increasing the voting percentage in the Vidhyadhar Nagar seat by propagating the work done by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre and spreading the message that the Centre gave funds but the state government did not do anything.

On the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ECRP), which the Congress has made an election issue, Kumari claimed that blaming the Centre was very easy but the state government should accept its shortcomings.

The detailed project report (DPR) of the project was prepared by the previous BJP government in the state, she said, adding that it showed her party's position on the project.

The Congress governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh at that time did not make any effort on inter-state government agreements, she alleged.

The ERCP is an ambitious project which will help augment irrigation facilities in an area of around two lakh hectares and will address drinking water problems in 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan, including the Kota division.