Other States - Rajasthan   

Public meeting or Govt. function?

JAIPUR: The Congress has questioned the decision to convert the proposed public meeting here on Saturday, to mark the completion of four years of the BJP Government in the State, to a Government function. “The meeting, in which there is large-scale misuse of public funds, is being organised to promote the ruling party,” the Congress has charged.

“They have crossed the thin line which differentiates a party function from an official programme. If it is a Government function even the MLAs belonging to the Opposition parties should have been invited,” said Pradesh Congress Committee president C. P. Joshi. “We would be keen to know under which all heads the expenditure for the rally would be accounted for,” he said.

Dr. Joshi appealed to the people of Rajasthan to come out and protest against the misuse of public money.

In fact the rally, scheduled to be held at Amrooton Ka Bagh, was initially planned as a party programme. But the Government had to take over charge as Congress leader Mahesh Joshi booked the venue even before the BJP could put in its application to the receiver under whom the ground is at present. Any Government function gets precedence over bookings from individuals and private parties.

“It is raja shahi (rule of the royalty) in Rajasthan. In a democracy the rule of law prevails and in this State every rule is flouted for the convenience of the ruling class,” Dr. Joshi charged.

Alleging involvement of each one in the State Council of Ministers in land deals, he said, “The Ministers have violated the oath of secrecy they took while swearing in to divulge information to developers and builders.”

Dr. Joshi, who termed the four years of the BJP Government so far as an all-round failure, named the Ministries of Energy, Tourism and Finance as the “most corrupt”: “All these Ministries are directly under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje while each of them has been entrusted to a first-time MLA with Minister of State rank,” he said.

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