Rajasthan: Raje opens a new front against CM

2 May 2009,

In Rajasthan, this is turning out to be more of an extended Assembly poll than a Lok Sabha election. There are two main players: chief minister Ashok Gehlot and former CM Vasundhara Raje. Gehlot has used virtually every occasion to slam Raje and call her corrupt. Raje has dared Gehlot to prove the charges, but in an exclusive interview with TOI on board a chartered flight to Jodhpur, she upped the ante and without mincing words wondered how honest the previous Gehlot government (1998-2003) had been.

The root cause is Raje’s liberal excise policy that Gehlot overturned within days of taking office. And Raje feels that this is just making room for the liquor mafia to come back again in the state.

“Before I took over (as CM), the liquor trade in Rajasthan was controlled by only three people. Revenue collection was around Rs 900 crore. With my policy, revenue generation doubled to Rs 1,800 crore.
So, the money was there, but it was slipping out of the system. Where was it going? Obviously to some people in the government.”

So, after taking over, she sent one of her officers to the southern states, and even Gujarat (“where people apparently don’t drink”) to understand their policies. While Gujarat helped throw light on the thriving bootlegging business, the Karnataka model was what she opted for. Along the lines of the Karnataka Beverages Corporation, came up the Rajasthan Beverages Corporation. “Revenues shot up, but the liquor mafia turned against me because I had smashed them. And this same liquor mafia is now making a comeback. And Gehlot calls me corrupt!”

At rallies, too, she makes it a point of refuting Gehlot’s charges. “Ye chunri aapne mujhe pahnayi hai, is chunri ki kasam... hamne kabhi liya nahin, hamne sirf diya hai”

Her point is simple: when she took over, she claims the coffers were empty, but when she left there was Rs 3,000 crore in the state’s exchequer. “Five years back, Rajasthan was a BIMARU state, today it’s out of that bracket. We had lined up so many projects and they were all nearing completion. The moment he (Gehlot) took over, he went on an inauguration spree. The ‘108’ ambulance service, the Bisalpur water project.... They were all our projects.”

The fight clearly is with Gehlot, and it hardly feels like it’s a national election. Only the characters are different. She urges voters to choose Srichand Kripalni of Chittor, who has not only done good work but is also close to L K Advani, who could be PM.

But when you ask her what she thinks of the idea of Narendra Modi as PM, she doesn’t deny the possibility. “Why not?” is all she says. While she may perhaps be okay with the idea of Modi as PM, she doesn’t seem very comfortable with the Varun Gandhi saga.