Public punished Ashok Gehlot for this sin of doing politics over water: Gajendra Shekhawat

JODHPUR: Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Monday accused former chief minister Ashok Gehlot of playing politics over water, saying that the public has punished him for the "sin".

He claimed that in the absence of an agreement between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and also because of the "stubbornness" of the previous Gehlot government, the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) could not move forward.

The Union minister said this while referring to Sunday's tripartite MoU signed by the Centre and the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh governments in New Delhi for a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the ERCP.

"The public has punished Gehlot for this sin of doing politics over water," Shekhawat said.

He also claimed that discussions on the project had been held at the bureaucratic level during Gehlot's tenure but due to the disinclination of his government, the talks did not move forward.

Shekhawat added that even when Gehlot was the chief minister, neither he nor any of his ministers ever went to Delhi for discussions on the ECRP.

"I had promised that if a BJP government was formed in Rajasthan, we would approve it (ECRP) in the first cabinet meeting after the elections. We have indeed done so and have affected the MoU," he added.

The Congress lost to the BJP in the Rajasthan assembly polls held last year. The BJP won 115 assembly seats out of the 200 in the state while the Congress bagged 70