EXCLUSIVE: From political to medical, Rajasthan Revenue Minister clears all doubts

Hyderabad: 'Rajasthan', the state, is facing multiple issues— from medical to political— for the last one year. It's almost a year since the covid pandemic hit the country, on the other hand, state politics has seen what it said to be 'historical' as the two stalwart leaders from the same party were seen at loggerheads.

In 2020, the then Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot had turned rebellion at a time when the state needs a strong and stable government to deal with the crisis. His attitude towards his own government leads the political pundits to assume his association with the saffron brigade. In fact, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, in an interview said, "Having an innocent face, good command over English and Hindi and influence over the media across the country, can do this."

A year after the shocking episode, the state is facing the same turbulence. To know more about the political disturbance as well as the medical situation, ETV Bharat spoke to state Revenue minister Harish Choudhary.

When asked about the blame game during the pandemic, he said that the Centre is not cooperating with the government since the beginning of the pandemic. "Since the pandemic hit the country, the Central government kept the powers to itself. They are the policymakers. When it comes to oxygen, the state had demanded 700MT of oxygen but was provided with only 300 MT by the Centre. In the present scenario, the Centre is not providing an adequate amount of black fungus medicine. We have dealt with the minimum resources and then also, we are doing well among all the states."

When asked about establishing a hospital in the Samra, which grabbed the headlines for its land-grabbing process, the minister said that the Opposition has played a major role in spreading the rumours. Refuting all charges, he said, "No houses were demolished for the hospital. The process of acquiring the land had started a year ago. We have also given them dates to clarify their doubts. There is no personal land within an area of 1 kilometre."

The minister has also dismissed the media reports about a possible Cabinet expansion and added it is the Chief Minister who takes the call to expand the Cabinet or not. Earlier on Monday, indicating Rajasthan Cabinet reshuffle and expansion is likely to be put on a hold, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot informed that doctors have advised Gehlot to avoid one-on-one meeting. The statement puts a question mark on much-anticipated Cabinet change, as Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra on Saturday said that a Cabinet reshuffle will soon take place in the state and asserted there is no problem within the party's state unit.

When asked about an internal rift between CM Gehlot and Pilot, he said the party had formed a three-member committee in which Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal and Ajay Makan are dealing with the situation. Since Mr Patel died last year, the other two are supposed to solve the grievances through regular interaction, added Choudhary. When ETV asked about giving his support to the rebellion leader (Sachin Pilot), Choudhary stated that a party follow a particular ideology. Till the time one supports that ideology, our full support is with him.