Rajasthan crisis: Former minister hits back over horse-trading charges

Former Rajasthan minister Ramesh Meena on Wednesday hit back at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over allegations about horse-trading and asked him “how much money was paid to BSP MLAs who switched over to the Congress in his previous tenure”.

Earlier, Gehlot had accused former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot of being directly involved in the alleged horse-trading with the opposition BJP to bring down his government.

Ramesh Meena, who was among those Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators who made the switch to Congress, said, “The chief minister should honestly tell how much money was paid to us when we joined Congress and left the the BSP in the last Congress government.”

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“He should reveal this if he is claiming that deals worth crores of rupees are happening. We were deceived and promised that our work will be done but that did not happen. But, we worked honestly after joining the Congress and played our role in the Opposition,” he said in a video released by Pilot’s spokesperson.

He further alleged that Gehlot did not pay attention to their demands and maintained a dictatorial attitude.

Another Congress rebel Murari Lal Meena in a video said, “Today, the way we were accused of corruption, it has shocked us. We are very sad. I would like to ask him (Gehlot) how much money we had taken when we came to the Congress from the BSP during the tenure of his previous government.”