Ashok Gehot reads out excerpts of previous budget, uproar in House

Rajasthan Budget 2023 : Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot read the old budget speech in the assembly today. He kept reading the old budget for about 6 minutes, then Water Supply Minister Mahesh Joshi came and said something in the CM's ear and he stopped. Gehlot's speech stopped, the opposition started ruckus.

This has happened for the first time in the history, when the old budget speech has been read out in an assembly and due to strong uproar, the proceedings of the House had to be stopped twice. CM Gehlot apologized when he stood up for the budget speech for the third time. He said, I feel sorry for whatever happened.

The opposition members came to the Well of the House creating a huge ruckus. The opposition also alleged that the chief minister read the old budget. The proceedings were adjourned due to heavy uproar. After this, the Chief Minister summoned Chief Secretary Usha Sharma and expressed displeasure over the negligence of the officers.

Gehlot said – one page extra page was added in the budget speech

When the proceedings of the House started again, CM Ashok Gehlot gave clarification. Said, 'If there is a difference in this copy of the budget speech, then tell it. Got an extra page by mistake. I misread a page. Where did the question of leaking come from? Even on this the ruckus of the opposition continued. The BJP remained adamant on the CM's apology. The proceedings of the House had to be adjourned again.

For the first time in Rajasthan, the proceedings of the house were adjourned during the budget speech, first for about half an hour, then for 15 minutes. When Dainik Bhaskar investigated this, it came to light that when the Chief Minister started the speech, that lion was not there in the previous speech, but the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme was announced only last year.

When Gehlot read two points exactly, seeing this, Government Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi spoke in the CM's ear. Meanwhile, the leader and deputy leader of the opposition raised the question that the CM is reading the old speech and the budget has been leaked. An uproar started on this. When the BJP MLAs came to the well and started ruckus, the ruckus started increasing, then the speaker adjourned the proceedings of the House for half an hour at 11:12.

Speaker said – what happened today is unfortunate

On the resumption of the House, Speaker CP Joshi said that whatever happened is unfortunate, we found out about it in the past. The speech given by the CM will not be right. Saddened by today's incident. Human error keeps happening. I cancel all the action taken for this untoward incident. The entire incident from 11 am to 11:42 has been expunged from the proceedings of the Assembly.

Kataria said – How did the outsider tell that the budget is being read wrong?

Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria said that after reading wrongly for a few minutes, a third person came and told that he was reading wrongly. The budget has been leaked, the budget is confidential and how did its copy reach anyone other than the CM. A third person came and told the CM, how did a third person know about this budget? If you want to respect the House, then this budget should be presented separately on the second day. Today's incident has put democracy to shame.

Read, those old lines of the budget, which Gehlot read...

Now, I announce to implement 'Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme' to ensure employment in cities as well. Through this scheme, 100 days of employment every year will be available to families living in urban areas from the coming year on their demand. About Rs 800 crore will be spent on this annually.

With a view to help in facing the situation arising out of Kovid, in the coming year, I announce to increase the 100 days of employment available in the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA scheme to 125 days at the expense of the state government. About Rs 750 crore will be spent on this.

To make up for the loss in education during the Corona period, it is proposed to run a three-month bridge course for school students next year. A provision of Rs 75 crore will be made for this.

Families of all sections have been financially affected during the Corona period. Now I, the low income group as well as all the 118 lakh domestic consumers..... The Chief Minister had read so many lines that Mahesh Joshi came and told the CM that this is an old budget.

Proceedings adjourned for the second time, opposition adamant on demanding apology from CM

The proceedings of the House had to be adjourned twice due to heavy uproar in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. For the first time the proceedings were adjourned for 12.42 minutes, even when the house started again, the ruckus of BJP continued. Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria and the entire opposition is demanding an apology from the Chief Minister in the House. After the uproar continued, the Speaker adjourned the House for the second time for 15 minutes. After this the House started and the CM stood up for the third time for the budget speech. Now he is presenting the budget.

Gehlot clarified on the mistake

Gehlot started speaking after getting permission from the speaker to present the budget again. Said, you have got the same copy, which was to be read in the budget. There was an extra page. I did not publish this budget in the press. Tell me if I am reading a page wrong, the same people who made the budget should convey to me that the page is wrong. Where does it come when it comes to leaks? There is dignity of the budget, governance runs on the basis of the budget. There is no pros and cons in this. Meanwhile, the opposition continued to create ruckus.

CM Ashok Gehlot said that such human errors have also happened during the time of former CM Vasundhara Raje. In response to this, Raje said that if any CM makes such a mistake in his speech, then I feel what will happen to Rajasthan?

old budge in the briefcaseWho kept the investigation: Former speaker

On this entire development, former Assembly Speaker Sumitra Singh told Bhaskar that reading the old budget messed up the whole matter. It is possible that someone has kept the old budget to embarrass the Chief Minister. Sumitra Singh said that the officers of the Finance Department are solely responsible for preparing the budget. Till the time the CM does not present the budget in the Vidhansabha, apart from the officers of the Finance Department, no one keeps information about the budget. Who kept the old budget in the Chief Minister's briefcase is a matter of investigation. However, regarding this blunder in the Assembly, it entirely depends on the Speaker to get the mistake of reading the old budget out of the proceedings or allow the Chief Minister to read the budget afresh. The rest will be known in the investigation as to why and how the old budget copy came in the briefcase of the Chief Minister? The responsibility of such investigation rests with the Chief Minister and the government itself.