'Jail me, shoot me': Sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha steps up campaign against Gehlot govt

“Send me to prison or shoot me,” sacked minister Rajendra Gudha said Tuesday as he stepped up his campaign against the “misdeeds” of members of the Ashok Gehlot ministry in Rajasthan.

Gudha took out a “camel yatra” in his Udaipurwati assembly constituency in Jhunjhunu district, a day after he was suspended from the state assembly where he had triggered a ruckus over a “red diary”.

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The ex-minister, who was pushed and shoved by fellow Congress MLAs in the House when he struck Parliamentary Affair Minister Shanti Dhariwal’s microphone, has alleged the diary hold details of irregular financial transactions that damn state's ministers.

Chief Minister Gehlot sacked Gudha last week after he criticised his own government in the assembly over crime against women, when the violence in BJP-run Manipur was being discussed.

In Udaipurwati, Gudha repeated his suggestion made in a PTI interview earlier to conduct a narco test on all Rajasthan ministers. “It will be known then that rapists are sitting in our government,” he told reporters during the yatra.

"Send me to prison or shoot me, I will continue to fight for the security of sisters and daughters of the state till my last breath," he said.

He said a huge rally will be organised in a week and then he will seek the people's opinion on his next step.

"After the rally, we will meet people in the assembly constituencies of the Shekhawati region of the state to reveal the misdeeds of the ministers and the government,” he said.

“I am going to the people's court to ask them what they have to say on being deprived of my right to speak in the assembly," he added, referring to the ruckus in the assembly.

He said the red diary can put several ministers behind bars as it has a record of their “misdeeds”, and that's why they are after it.

Earlier, he had alleged that Gehlot had asked him to retrieve the diary from the home of Dharmendra Rathore, currently the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation chairman, during a raid by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department.

Tuesday’s yatra passed through Pachlangi, Kairoth and Papda of Udaipurwati constituency.

In the PTI interview, Gudha also slammed Gehlot for using terms like “nikamma” (worthless) for former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.

Gudha was minister of state for Sainik Kalyan, Civil Defence, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development departments, and was seen some weeks ago at a rally over “corruption” organised by Pilot.

The power tussle between Gehlot and Pilot appears to be on hold now as the ruling party in Rajasthan tries to put up a united front ahead of the assembly polls later this year.