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Congress legislators continued their sit-in protest inside the Assembly while the party held protests at all district headquarters on Saturday against the suspension of six party MLAs.

Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully said that the MLAs spent Friday night in the assembly and the dharna will continue.

He said that three ministers held talks with the senior MLAs last night but it remained inconclusive and the ‘dharna’ continued.

“We demand that the minister withdraw his remark. There have been precedents that words have been expunged but the government itself does not want to run the House, and therefore, the issue has been created,” Jully told reporters on Saturday.

He said that the party MLAs have been holding the ‘dharna’ in the House after the Speaker adjourned it on Friday after suspending six MLAs.

During the Question Hour on Friday, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Avinash Gehlot pointed to the opposition and said, “In the 2023-24 budget also, like always, you named the scheme (on working women’s hostels) after your ‘Dadi’ (grandmother) Indira Gandhi.” This remark led to a heavy uproar in the House, which led to three adjournments. MLA Jogeshwar Garg moved a proposal to suspend Congress MLAs Govind Singh Dotasara, Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Jakir Hussain, Hakam Ali and Sanjay Kumar, which was passed by voice vote.

After the proposal was passed, the Speaker adjourned the House till 11 am on Monday. Following the adjournment, the Congress MLAs started their sit-in protest in the House and spent the night there.

Meanwhile, Congress district units held protests at all the district headquarters against the suspension and demanded an apology from the minister.

PCC general secretary Swarnim Chaturvedi said that District Congress Committee presidents led the protests in the respective districts.

“Demanding an apology from the minister and to revoke the suspension of Congress MLAs, protests were held at all the district headquarters in which a large number of Congress workers and leaders participated,” he said.

“The minister’s comments show that they have no regard for stalwart leaders like Indira Gandhi. Such comments cannot be tolerated. The suspension of six MLAs was an arbitrary move by the government,” he said.

The Congressmen burnt the effigy of the minister during the protest.

In Sikar, party workers took out an ‘Aakrosh Rally’ from Dak bungalow to the collectorate and tried to enter the collectorate premises but they were stopped by the police.

Party leader Sunil Kumar said that Indira Gandhi is known as the Iron Lady and comment on her by the minister was uncalled for and demanded the minister’s resignation.

A Cabinet meeting was held on Saturday at the Chief Minister’s office under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, to make important decisions for employee welfare, the benefit of youth, ensuring good governance, and overall development of the state, an official release said.

Cabinet Minister Jogaram Patel briefed the media about the decisions taken in the meeting.

The Cabinet has decided to redefine the districts and divisions created by the previous government, after which Rajasthan will now have a total of 7 divisions and 41 districts, according to the release.

Minister Patel stated that the previous government, in its last year, decided to create 17 new districts and 3 new divisions. In this context, the Revenue Department issued a notification on August 5, 2023, for the creation of these districts and divisions.

Three new districts were announced just one day before the 2023 Assembly elections’ model code of conduct was implemented, and their notification could not be issued.

Minister Patel explained that the previous government had created new districts and divisions purely for political gain.

The creation of new districts did not take into account important factors such as financial resources, administrative needs, law and order, or cultural harmony. The previous government did not create the necessary offices or buildings for the new districts, nor did it provide budgets and other necessary resources.

He further mentioned that, to review the previous government’s imprudent decision, the state government formed a Cabinet sub-committee and a high-level expert committee headed by retired IAS officer Dr Lalit K Panwar.

The expert committee submitted its report and recommendations on the reorganization of newly created districts and divisions. After considering these recommendations, the Cabinet decided not to retain 9 new districts–Anupgarh, Dudu, Gangapur City, Jaipur Rural, Jodhpur Rural, Kekri, Neem Ka Thana, Sanchore, and Shahpura–along with the 3 newly created divisions–Banswara, Pali, and Sikar.

Additionally, the three districts announced just before the election code of conduct–Malpura, Sujangarh, and Kuchaman City–will also be cancelled.

Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot criticised the decision saying it showed confusion in the mind of the state leadership.

“The state government took 1 year to take this decision. From this, it can be guessed how much confusion was in their minds regarding this work… Rajasthan is the largest state in the country… If three divisions were created, then they were created after some thought…In many ways, small districts are beneficial for the public. Gujarat is a state with less population than us (Rajasthan) but still, there are 33 districts there… We took this decision for good governance,” he said.

Rajasthan will have a total of 7 divisions and 41 districts. For the 8 newly retained districts–Phalodi, Balotara, Kotputli-Bahrood, Khairthal-Tijara, Beawar, Deeg, Didwana-Kuchaman, and Salumber–the state government will provide all necessary financial resources and other amenities to establish the administrative framework.

The Rajasthan government has revoked the allocation of a government bungalow to Cabinet minister Kirori Lal Meena, sources said on Monday.

Kirori Lal Meena has been vocal about his dissatisfaction with the Bhajanlal Sharma-led BJP government.

According to the sources, Mr Meena himself had requested the General Administration Department (GAD) to cancel the allocation of bungalow number 3 on Hospital Road here.

He had not taken possession of the bungalow which was allocated to him in February last year.

“The bungalow allotment has been cancelled by the GAD,” a source said.

Following the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where he claimed the party did not secure the results he had promised, Meena resigned from his ministerial position. However, his resignation is yet to be accepted.

Additionally, citing health reasons, he has not attended the assembly session.

Mr Meena has also accused the state government of tapping his phones, an allegation refuted by the minister of state for home Jawahar Singh Bedham in the assembly.

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari presented the second full budget of the Bhajan Lal government, marking it the first ‘green budget’ with a special focus on climate change adaptation, forests, environment, and biodiversity.

“Our government has focussed on youth employment, environmental sustainability, and large-scale infrastructure development. The budget is aimed at positioning Rajasthan as a key driver of India’s economic and green growth,” said Ms Kumari, who also holds the Finance Ministry portfolio.

In her 138-minute speech, the state Finance Minister outlined Rajasthan’s ambition to become a $350 billion economy by 2030.

The Finance Minister said that the budget projects estimated revenue receipts of Rs 2,94,536.49 crore for 2025-26, while the estimated revenue expenditure stands at Rs 3,25,545 crore.

“The revenue deficit is calculated at Rs 31,009.41 crore, and the fiscal deficit is Rs 84,643 crore, which is 4.25 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP),” she said.

She added that the focus is on employment and employment growth.

“We have announced 1.25 lakh government job recruitments in the next year and 1.5 lakh jobs in the private sector. We are also announcing Rajasthan Employment Policy 2025 which focuses on youth employment,” she said.

The Finance Minister added there was an announcement on Tax & Property Reforms, and further announced a 0.5 per cent stamp duty discount on property worth up to Rs 50 lakh when purchased jointly with a wife.

She also announced to increase PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to Rs 9,000 per year, starting next year

The Finance Minister further said that a new New Aero City will be developed near Kota Airport and 29 airstrips in the state will undergo development.

The ruling BJP in Rajasthan on Sunday expelled its former MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja, who was recently at the centre of temple “purification” controversy, from primary membership of the party.

The action has been taken against Mr Ahuja following a probe by BJP’s disciplinary committee, a party order said.

BJP state president Madan Rathore has given orders to terminate Mr Ahuja’s primary membership of the party for “indiscipline”, it said.

Mr Ahuja had sparked a controversy earlier this month after he sprinkled Ganga water at a Ram temple in Alwar to “purify” it following Congress leader Tikaram Jully attended a consecration ceremony there. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot had termed Mr Ahuja’s act an “insult” to a Dalit.

Earlier on Sunday, Mr Ahuja appeared before the BJP’s disciplinary committee to present his side.

Later, talking to reporters, he said, “I have not done anything anti-Dalit.” He claimed that the BJP has made a mistake by expelling him by falling prey to the propaganda of the Congress.

He accused senior Congress leaders, including its president Mallikarjun Kharge, of defamation and said that he will file a case regarding this.

After the temple “purification” act, Mr Ahuja had said that Congress leaders have “no moral authority” to attend such ceremonies as the party’s leadership had questioned the existence of Lord Ram and “boycotted” the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya last year.

He claimed that there was no “Dalit” angle to his act.

The consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in a residential society of Alwar was held about 20 days ago on the occasion of Ram Navami and Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Tikaram Jully was in attendance.

Mr Ahuja said that he took the step because of Congress leaders’ view and approach towards lord Ram and not because of Mr Jully being a Dalit.

Mr Jully had earlier said that it (Ahuja’s act) was indicative of BJP’s mentality towards Dalits.

Mr Gehlot had said that the incident reflects the BJP’s “narrow mindedness” towards Dalits.

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