Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot read out last year’s Budget speech for several minutes before he realised his mistake and apologised.
Jaipur,UPDATED: Feb 10, 2023 12:42 IST
A ruckus broke out in Rajasthan Assembly after CM Ashok Gehlot started reading out an old budget (Photo from @ashokgehlot51 on Twitter)
By Jaykishan Sharma: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot was supposed to present the state’s Budget in the Assembly on Friday. He started reading out the Budget speech and went on for several minutes before realising that the Budget he was presenting was an old one. He was finally stopped by Congress minister Mahesh Joshi.
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When Gehlot was reading out the document, he started mentioning old schemes and urban development plans which were implemented last year. That is when Congress leader Mahesh Joshi stopped Gehlot and the chief minister apologised.
The proceedings in the Assembly were disrupted after Opposition BJP members stormed into the House during the budget presentation. Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan and BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria asked whether the Budget was leaked. “This budget cannot be presented. Was it leaked?,” he asked.
BJP leader and former Rajasthan CM Vasundhare Raje slammed Gehlot for the blunder and said, “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.”
Gulab Chand Kataria demanded an apology from Ashok Gehlot.
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Gehlot also hit back at the Opposition and said, “You can point out only if there’s a difference between what’s written in the Budget in my hand and its copies given to the House members.” He trashed the leak allegations and asked how such a question could arise. He asserted that a page was added to his Budget copy by mistake.
Sources told India Today that Gehlot has directed the finance secretary to look into the mis-printing.
The proceedings of the Assembly were adjourned for 30 minutes after a ruckus broke out in the House. Assembly Speaker CP Joshi apologized for the mistake, saying the incident created a “wrong history”. He said that this is the first time that such an incident has happened. “But as per the demand of the Opposition, nothing will be deleted from the Assembly proceedings,” he added.
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