Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday accidentally read the old Budget speech for seven minutes before being interrupted. He was later stopped by the chief whip.
Soon, the opposition created an uproar and sat in the well of the Rajasthan Assembly over Gehlot’s error, leading to the House being adjourned for 30 minutes.
Former 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.
“This budget cannot be presented. Was it leaked?”, BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria said in the House.
Speaker C P Joshi asked them to maintain order but the Opposition continued its uproar. After the adjournment, BJP MLAs staged a sit-in inside the well of the House.
“Rajasthan Assembly insulted by the presentation of old budget by CM Gehlot today”, BJP MLA Rajendra Rathore told ANI.
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 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.
This is the last budget of the Gehlot government as Rajasthan is going for Assembly election later this year.
For the first time, the budget will be shown live in all government and private colleges in Rajasthan.
Earlier, state food and civil supplies minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas the budget will be special as it will encourage savings, give relief to the masses and accelerate growth in the state.
The colleges have been asked to arrange a live telecast of the budget speech in auditoriums/meeting halls so that a maximum number of students, teachers and heads of institutions can watch it.
The budget will be telecasted live on social media platforms as well.
