News Analysis India

Tag: Rajasthan

  • Rajasthan rejig on the cards; Pilot meets Rahul, Priyanka

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  After settling the Punjab leadership tussle, the Congress leadership seems to have turned its focus to Rajasthan. Former Congress president  Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday met Sachin Pilot with cabinet expansion in the state on the cards.

    During the meeting, sources said there was a discussion on pending cabinet expansion in Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot government and induction of MLAs from Pilot camp, as was promised to him after he was wooed back to party following his rebellion last year. 

    Pilot, who was removed as deputy chief minister and state Congress chief after the rebellion, is also demanding inclusion of his people in various boards, corporations and other political positions. The meeting, second within a week’s time, comes close on the heels of the party going for leadership change in Punjab and getting a new chief minister by replacing party veteran Amarinder Singh ahead of assembly polls in the state.

    Sources said that as of now, leadership change in the state is unlikely but ahead of Rajasthan assembly election in 2023, the party may bring him at the helm of affairs and project as the face of the party.  “The situation in Punjab and Rajasthan is different as Captain (Amarinder Singh) lost the faith of the majority of the MLAs while Gehlot enjoys the support of most legislators. Moreover, the party as of now would not want to take chances, giving the BJP any opportunity to destablise the government,” they added.    

    The party has officially maintained that the cabinet expansion has been delayed due to ill-health of Gehlot but a senior leader said that the chief minister is not agreeing to the formula worked out by party high command. “Pilot has been assured cabinet expansion as soon as early next month and he has also been offered a key role in the AICC,” said sources, adding that earlier he had turned down central position on ground that he would want to focus on Rajasthan.

    There were reports that the party wants him to take charge of election-bound Gujarat as the party is looking to appoint AICC in-charge for the state, a post that fell vacant following the demise of Rajeev Satav.

    No official word on discussionThough there was no official word on what transpired at the meeting, sources said the impending cabinet expansion and organisational rejig were discussed. Pilot has been pushing for Cabinet expansion for long.

  • Focus shifts to Rajasthan as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi meet Sachin Pilot

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot met former party chief Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday amid speculation over Cabinet expansion and organisation rejig in Rajasthan.

    The discussion between the former deputy chief minister and the Gandhi siblings comes days after the dramatic developments in Punjab where the Congress replaced Amarinder Singh as chief minister and appointed Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit leader, to the top post of the state.

    Pilot, who had also met Gandhi last week, met him at his Tughlaq Road residence and Priyanka Gandhi was also present during the meeting.

    Since the developments in Punjab, the power circles in the Congress are abuzz that Rajasthan, where Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot have been locked in a leadership tussle, as well as Chhattisgarh were next on the list of Rahul Gandhi to set the party’s house in order.

    Though there was no official word on what transpired at the meeting, sources said the impending cabinet expansion and organisational rejig were discussed.

    Pilot for long has been demanding that Cabinet expansion should happen and appointments to boards and corporations in the state be made soon.

    He has been asserting that Congress workers and leaders working closely with him for the party should be given their dues.

    There is also talk of Pilot being brought back as chief of the state unit even as his supporters insist that a leadership change should be effected in Rajasthan by replacing Gehlot.

    Pilot and the MLAs supporting him had revolted against Chief Minister Gehlot last year over his style of functioning, after which Pilot was removed from the posts of the state party chief and the Rajasthan deputy chief minister.

    Sources said the leadership is keen to resolve all issues in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where Health Minister T S Singhdeo is seeking to replace Bhupesh Baghel as chief minister citing a verbal agreement that the leadership position would be shared between the two for two and a half years each, ahead of the next round of assembly polls.

    Congress general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken had said last week that the roadmap is ready for cabinet expansion and organisational rejig in the state.

    “If Ashok Gehlot had not fallen ill we would have done cabinet expansion and the roadmap is ready for appointment at board corporations and district presidents,” Maken had said at a press conference.

  • Four held for bid to make dummy candidates write Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Police on Friday arrested four members of a gang for an alleged bid to make dummy candidates write a state eligibility exam for teachers, which is scheduled for Sunday.

    The state government has made extensive arrangements for the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET), in which over 16 lakh candidates are set to appear at around 4,000 centres in the state.

    Apart from deploying measures to check copying, the government is providing free travel facility to the candidates.

    According to police, the four people were srrested with Rs 5.60 lakh in cash in the state’s Dausa.

    Chats and an audio recording related to the examination have been recovered while their mobile phones are being checked, Dausa SP Anil Kumar Beniwal said.

    He said that during interrogation, the accused revealed about crores of rupees taken from several candidates for different competitive examinations.

    Role of some coaching institutes and libraries has come to the fore, he added.

    The arrested have been identified as Sumer Meena (35), Dashrath Singh Meena (30), Ramesh Meena (25) and Karan Singh Meena (24).

  • Entire staff of Rajasthan police station shifted after ‘custodial death’ of man

    By PTI

    KOTA: The entire staff of a police station here was sent to police lines on Thursday after a 32-year-old man died under custody.

    According to police, Kamal Lodha (32) was brought to Nayapura police station at around 5 pm on Wednesday for allegedly disrupting public order.

    He was found hanging in a toilet within the barrack of the police station, they claimed.

    However, family members of Lodha alleged that he was killed in custody by police.

    Rajasthan State Human Right Commission also took cognizance of the media reports on the death inside the police station.

    A single-bench of the commission, headed by Justice Gopal Krishan Vyas, issued order to the IG, Kota range and Kota (City) SP to submit afactual report in the matter within a week.

    A judicial probe under section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is underway and the entire staff of the police station have been sent to police lines, ASP (City) Praveen Jain told the media.

    The Station House Officer (SHO) of the Nayapura police station, Mukesh Meena, has been suspended, another police official said.

    Lodha was brought to the police station on the complaint of his aunt and cousin named Ravi, who said he was creating nuisance in an inebriated state in the family and the neighborhood, Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhagwat Singh Hingad said.

    A resident of the Masjid Nayapura area, Lodha was accompanied to the police station by his mother, who later went home to collect his ID and photos for legal formalities, he said.

    While formalities for his arrest were underway, Lodha asked if he could use the toilet.

    He was taken to a toilet within the barrack of the police station where he allegedly hanged himself using his shirt and tying it to an iron grill at around 7.

    15 pm, Hingad said.

    The family members of Lodha, accompanied by former BJP MLA Prahlad Gunjal, staged a dharna outside the police station demanding that staff there be suspended and a murder case be registered against them.

    They also demanded a government job for a family member and Rs 10 lakh in compensation.

    Gunjal claimed that it was not possible for 5 feet 9 inches tall Lodha to commit suicide by tying his shirt to 4 feet 3 inches high gate of the barrack.

    How can this be possible? the former MLA told PTI.

    He alleged that Lodha was killed by the police and questioned their suicide theory.

    Later, the family members agreed to take away the body from there after assurance from the administration of Rs 2 lakh compensation from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and special proposal of another Rs 6 lakh aid and contractual job to the wife of Lodha in the UIT (Urban Infrastructure Trust).

    Lodha had four cases of theft and five of possessing illegal arms against him.

    A case was registered against him on August 26 at the same police station for creating a ruckus in an inebriated state, Hingad said.

  • Rajasthan government to ensure free bus travel for REET exam candidates on Sunday

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government will be providing free travel facility to all the candidates appearing for the Rajasthan Teacher Eligibility Test (REET) scheduled on Sunday.

    It has also warned that if any government employee is found indulging in paper leak or copying, they will be dismissed from service.

    More than 16 lakh candidates are set to appear in the examination to be held at around 4,000 centres in the state.

    Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot chaired a high-level meeting on Thursday regarding the official preparations for holding the examination.

    In the meeting, Gehlot said free travel facility would be provided to all the candidates appearing in REET 2021.

    He said that if any government officer/employee is found to be involved in cases like paper leak, dummy candidates taking the exam and copying in recruitment examinations, they should be dismissed from service.

    Also, if the involvement of any private school personnel or person associated with the school is found, then the recognition of that school should be terminated permanently, Gehlot said.

    The Chief Minister said the hard work of candidates gets washed away whenever a paper gets leaked or copying takes place in competitive examinations.

    He said there should not be any negligence in any examination centre and told officials to install CCTV cameras at all such centres.

    The Chief Minister appealed for cooperation from the general public to help the candidates.

    Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said all the state roadway buses will be available for free travel for the candidates.

    Along with this, public transport and other private buses are also being arranged.

    He said that necessary guidelines have been issued to the transport officers in this regard.

    Minister of State for Education Govind Singh Dotasra said all preparations have been made by the department to conduct the exam in a transparent manner.

    He suggested that to prevent paper leaks and copying, there should be a complete ban on carrying mobile phones inside the examination centre.

    Special vigil should be kept on the “gangs” and coaching centres involved in paper leaks and copying.

    He said that at the time of entering the examination centre, a new face mask should be made available so that the incidents of copying could be prevented as some candidates conceal Bluetooth devices in their mask.

    Meanwhile, the Railways has given consent to run 11 special trains for the candidates while requests have been made for more such trains on the day.

  • Rajasthan tops states generating solar energy, overtakes Karnataka: Centre

    Express News Service

    JAIPUR: Rajasthan has become the leader in the country in the solar energy sector. 

    In a recent report of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Rajasthan has overtaken Karnataka to be at the top in the country with an installed capacity of 7737.95 MW of solar power. With a 7469 MW capacity, Karnataka ranks second and with a 5708 MW capacity, Gujarat is at the third position. 

    In Rajasthan, the rays of the sun are available in sufficient quantity for 325 days out of 365 days, which is the best in the country for solar energy.  Here, 150 lakh units of electricity are being produced daily from the wind power plant, and 225 lakh units from the solar power plant. 

    Officials claim that the number one spot in solar energy could be possible due to the changes made by the Rajasthan government under the new solar energy policy of 2019. Apart from this, special provisions were made for this sector in the Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme-2019 (RIPS) which revolutionized the field of solar energy.  

    ALSO READ | SECI offers 9 GW solar power projects to Andhra Pradesh

    New solar power capacity of 2348.47 MG has been installed in Rajasthan only in the last 8 months and during this period, a record investment of 10,000 crores has been made, a record in the solar energy sector.  Rajasthan has recorded unprecedented progress in all areas of solar energy including ground mount, rooftop, and off-grid in the year 2021. A target of 30 GW of solar power generation has been set to be achieved by the year 2024-25. 

    Officials of the Renewable Energy Corporation claim that the way the work is being done in the state, now Rajasthan is likely to remain on top for many years. Solar parks are being developed continuously in the state to take more electricity from the sun and the target is to have a capacity of 30,000 MW by the year 2030 as mentioned in the new solar policy. 

    In a nutshell, the focus in Rajasthan will be on 200 GW solar energy capacity, 1.25 lakh hectares of land available and 70 thousand MW capacity plants can be set up. No wonder, many big companies have also reached the state which includes Adani Green Energy – 9700 MW (Solar & Hybrid), Renew Power-  10 thousand MW (solar), JSW – 10 thousand MW (solar and hybrid), and Greenko Energy – 4500 MW (pumped storage).

    The solar installed capacity of states (Figures in MW)

    Rajasthan – 7738 
    Karnataka- 7469 
    Gujarat- 5708 
    Andhra Pradesh – 4380 
    Maharashtra- 2444
    Tamil Nadu- 4675 
    Telangana – 3992 

  • Rajasthan leading state in country in solar energy production: CM Gehlot

    This is the result of the Solar Energy Policy 2019 and the Rajasthan Investment Promotion Policy 2019 implemented by the state government, Gehlot said.

  • After Punjab, Congress likely to tackle Rajasthan rift through Cabinet reshuffle

    Express News Service

    JAIPUR: The political turmoil in Punjab has created ripples and intensified political activity in Rajasthan. With the Congress high command replacing Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi as the Punjab CM, a big buzz has been set off that the reshuffle in the Gehlot govt and political appointments in Rajasthan will soon be finalised. 

    The buzz in political circles is that after Punjab, a solution to the Rajasthan crisis is the top priority of the Congress High Command. 

    The Sachin Pilot camp is excited over a reported meeting between Sachin Pilot and Rahul Gandhi over the weekend. Pilot loyalists, on condition of anonymity, said after the Punjab resolution, a formula to resolve the Rajasthan rift cannot be delayed any longer. With Pilot reportedly holding detailed discussions with Rahul, they are confident that the party will soon take a ‘fair and balanced decision about Rajasthan at the earliest. 

    The Pilot faction expects that after the Punjab episode, a power-sharing arrangement will soon be worked out where the promised cabinet reshuffle and other political appointments will be finally settled. Sachin Pilot, who was sacked both as the deputy CM and the state Congress chief after his rebellion last year, has repeatedly expressed the hope that the high command will take effective steps to address the issues raised by him. After the Punjab saga, the Pilot camp is quite confident that the party will fulfill the promises made to them which have been inordinately delayed for one reason or the other over the past year. 

    ALSO READ |  Channi, Sidhu to be faces for Punjab polls, says Congress amidst fresh firefighting

    Significantly, though CM Ashok Gehlot stayed away from the recent session of the Rajasthan assembly due to illness, he is now suddenly back in action. Besides advising Amarinder Singh through Twitter not to do anything to damage the party, Gehlot is holding a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. On Monday, Gehlot held a review meeting on a special campaign of his government called ‘Prashasan Ganwo ke Sangh’ (Administration with Villages). While this was an online meet with senior officials, Gehlot on Wednesday will meet his ministers in person – in the first offline meeting of his Cabinet for over a year.   

    CM Gehlot has so far refused to act under any pressure for making the changes demanded by the Pilot faction. However, insiders say Gehlot is likely to soften his stance after a clear statement was made recently by the AICC general secretary Ajay Maken. The Incharge for Rajasthan had said that the roadmap for the state is ready and that the delay in Cabinet expansion, to accommodate Pilot loyalists, was only due to Gehlot’s recent angioplasty. 

    Though many in the Pilot camp claim that the AICC has made it clear that CM Gehlot cannot postpone decisions indefinitely, Gehlot loyalists are keen to assert that the Rajasthan situation is very different from that in Punjab. As state Revenue Minister, Harish Chaudhary who was one of the two AICC observers for the Punjab episode, remarked, “MLAs in Rajasthan are strong with CM Ashok Gehlot and there is no resentment towards him. The cabinet expansion would have happened but for CM’s ill-health. The day the CM’s plane flies towards Delhi, the cabinet expansion will also happen.”

  • Rajasthan RTI activist killed in accident, family alleges foul play

    By PTI

    KOTA: The family of RTI activist Rai Singh Gurjar, who died in a road accident last week, has alleged foul play, claiming he was killed by people he had exposed in graft cases over the last five years.

    Police have registered a case of murder against four to five people on the basis of a complaint lodged by Gurjar’s family and began a probe.

    However, they said it appeared to be a case of accident and the exact cause will be known after receiving the postmortem report.

    The deputy sarpanch of Titarwasa gram panchayat in Jhalawar district suffered a critical head injury in a road accident late Saturday night and died during treatment.

    In September 2019, the 27-year-old RTI activist had raised his voice against corruption in developmental work being carried out in Titarwasa gram panchayat, which was adopted by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu under the MP model village scheme in May 2017.

    Later also, he continued to speak against corrupt practices by local officials and public representatives.

    On Saturday night, Rai Gurjar suffered a critical head injury after his motorbike was hit by an auto rickshaw in Madhopura village.

    He was rushed to Jhalawar district hospital, where he succumbed to injuries during treatment later in the night.

    “There was no mark of injury or scratch all over the body but a deep wound into his head and no mark of accident all over the place, where the accident reportedly occurred on Saturday night,” Sujan Singh Gurjar, brother of the RTI activist said.

    “The deep wound into his head apparently appeared to have been lashed with some sharp weapon,” he said, alleging his brother was attacked with a sharp weapon and was murdered as he had been pursuing to expose corruption at various levels in different government projects being carried out in the area.

    The murder was projected as a road accident, Sujan Gurjar claimed, adding that he lodged a complaint with the police on Sunday against Titarwasa gram sevak Chandra Singh, village sarpanch Kalulal Bheel, who is an accused in a graft case, Dinesh Patidar, who is involved in illegal transportation of soil, and Naipal Singh, a resident of Titarwas village.

    An FIR was registered under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC against four to five persons, SHO at Jhalrapatan police station Jitendra Singh Shekhawat said.

    The body was handed over to the family members after postmortem on Sunday and the exact cause of death would be clear only after receiving the postmortem report, the SHO said.

    Shekhawat, however, said it appeared to be a case of accident.

  • Car with three Rajasthan MLAs narrowly escapes head-on crash

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Three Rajasthan BJP MLAs had a narrow escape on Sunday when the car they were travelling in averted a head-on collision with another vehicle by swerving sharply off a road in Chittorgarh district, police said.

    While no one was injured in the incident, the car carrying the MLAs was hit in the rear tyre by the other vehicle, they said.

    Chittorgarh MLA Chandrabhan Singh Akya, Raniwara MLA Narayan Singh Dewal and Reodar MLA Jagasiram were going to Pratapgarh when the incident took place, SHO, Nimbahera Sadar police station, Phool Chand said.

    The legislators left for Pratapgarh in another vehicle after the accident, he said.