Jaipur, March 27, 2025
Chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and former CM Ashok Gehlot clashed Wednesday over the latter’s criticism of the govt on ‘X’ with Sharma pointing to Gehlot’s absence from the just-concluded Budget session of Rajasthan Assembly while attempting to hog limelight on social media.
The remarks sparked a counter from Gehlot who asked the CM — again, on X — about the status of the govt’s millet procurement at minimum support price (MSP).
At a farmers’ conference in Bikaner’s agriculture university, Sharma criticised Gehlot. He said, “Our former CM is active on X (formerly Twitter), but hasn’t attended the Assembly even for a day. He is active on ‘X’ and wants to remain in the headlines. I want to tell him that before you tweet, you should look at them.”
Sharma said social media presence cannot alleviate public difficulties and said Gehlot should evaluate his govt five-year performance and engage with Rajasthan’s public directly to understand their challenges.
Gehlot’s counter, which sought to assert that he was raising public issues on X, came shortly after. “Today, in a govt programme, CM commented on my tweets highlighting public grievances and exposing the shortcomings of the govt. CMji, I want to remind you of your tweet from about two and a half years ago, where you were protesting against the Congress govt demanding purchase of millets at MSP.”
Asserting that the Sharma govt was now close to completing one-and-a-half-year in office, Gehlot said, “CMji…Your manifesto also promised the purchase of millet at MSP. Could you please tell us when you are going to start purchasing millet at MSP?”
Sharma, however, did not rise to the bait and skirted the millet purchase issue. Instead, he highlighted his govt’s in the power sector. “We have worked in every sector, including electricity. By 2027, we will provide electricity to farmers and industries. We have given 100 units of electricity and will provide 150 units by adding solar,” he said
