The Chief Minister of the state of Rajasthan in India’s west committed a monumental blunder inside the state legislature when he came to deliver the annual budget speech for the state on February 10. Ashok Gehlot, one of the top leaders of the Congress party and Rajasthan Chief Minister, kept on reading the old Budget speech for about seven minutes. Gehlot was then interrupted by the chief whip. From the state capital Jaipur to the national capital New Delhi, the faux pas created a significant political uproar.
Gehlot’s not-meant-to-be budget speech was mentioned in the parliament in New Delhi by the central finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who said that she prays to God that “nobody should make such a mistake.”
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje hit out at Gehlot over the goof-up. “For 8 minutes, CM kept reading the old budget. When I was the CM, I used to repeatedly check and read before presenting the budget. You can imagine how safe the state is in the hands of a CM who reads out an old budget”, the BJP leader said.
Gehlot’s defence
Amid criticism, the Chief Minister retorted, “You (Opposition) can point out only if there’s a difference b/w what’s written in the budget in my hand and its copies were given to the House members. If a page was added to my budget copy by mistake, then how does the matter of leaking of budget arise?”.
Later, the House proceedings resumed and Gehlot presented his budget.
“I feel sorry, what happened was by mistake,” he said.
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The state of Rajasthan is set to go to polls later this year. The state remains one of the fewest in the country which is governed by the Congress party amid its diminishing political footprint since the dominant rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2010s.
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