Jaipur, June 15, 2026
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Monday challenged former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to provide evidence for his long-standing allegation that there was a conspiracy to topple the Congress government during the 2020 political crisis in the state.
Taking aim at what he called Gehlot’s repeated claims of a “coup attempt”, Shekhawat said the former chief minister had failed to present any proof despite making the allegation for years.
“If there was a conspiracy to topple his government, let him place even a single proof before the public,” Shekhawat said while speaking to the media in Jodhpur.
Referring to Gehlot’s former OSD Lokesh Sharma, Shekhawat added, “Even his own former OSD has stated that if anyone worked to destabilise the government, it was Ashok Gehlot himself.”
Shekhawat further accused the former chief minister of orchestrating conspiracies, harassing his own legislators and getting their conversations recorded. “He hatches conspiracies, gets his own MLAs’ phones tapped and then blames others. He should introspect instead of accusing everyone else,” he said.
The Union Minister launched a scathing attack on Gehlot, accusing him of stalling Jodhpur’s development and mishandling Rajasthan’s water resources.
Responding to Gehlot’s recent remarks on Jodhpur’s water crisis, Shekhawat said Gehlot had “committed the sin of pushing Jodhpur backwards” and held him solely responsible for the poor drinking water situation in both Jodhpur and Rajasthan.
“The people of Rajasthan were forced to suffer because of Gehlot’s flawed policies. If anyone is responsible for the dire state of drinking water in Jodhpur and across the state, it is Ashok Gehlot,” Shekhawat said while addressing the media during his visit to Jodhpur.
Shekhawat claimed that during his tenure as Union Jal Shakti Minister, Rajasthan received the highest allocation of resources in the country. However, he alleged that the Gehlot government turned the implementation process into a “hub of corruption”.
“The people of Jodhpur have not forgotten the days when they had to dig pits and use motors to draw water. The Jal Jeevan Mission became a victim of rampant corruption under the previous government,” he said. The Union Minister further alleged that Gehlot ignored corruption by his close associates and allowed ministers and MLAs a free hand to loot public resources.
Aiming at Gehlot’s claims of having delivered the Jodhpur elevated road project, Shekhawat alleged that the former chief minister had, in fact, attempted to delay and obstruct the project. “Gehlot claims credit for the elevated road, but today I am revealing that he hatched every possible conspiracy to stall its construction. I can prove that there were efforts to delay and even stop the project,” he said.
According to Shekhawat, such statements were being made only for political mileage and headlines. “The people of Jodhpur gave him a mandate for 15 years. Yet if anyone is guilty of holding Jodhpur back in terms of development, it is Ashok Gehlot,” he said.(Agency)
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