Dotasara Slams BJP Over Anta Bypoll, Says Party ‘Burdened Public With ₹200 Crore’

Govind Singh Dotasara, the head of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee, declared on Saturday that his party would win the Anta bypoll by a wide majority and criticised the BJP for selecting a candidate with a criminal record, which made the election necessary.

Before heading out to campaign in Anta, where the bypoll is set for November 11, Dostara was speaking to PTI at the Bundi Circuit House with local Congress MLA Harimohan Sharma.

After BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena was disqualified due to a conviction in a 20-year-old case, the Anta assembly seat became vacant. He was given a sentence of three years in prison.

The RPCC chief said the BJP's wrong decision has "burdened the public with Rs 200 crore that could have been used for development works".

He also demanded the resignation of the entire state Cabinet over "frequent tragedies claiming innocent lives", referring to a surge in horrific road accidents and fire incidents in the state.

“It was a wrong decision by the BJP to nominate a candidate with a criminal background and get him elected with big promises. The bypoll within just two years is the result of that wrong decision," he said.

According to Dostara, the state's citizens feel deceived because the BJP has not kept any of the promises it made prior to taking power.

Additionally, he said that the previous Congress government's welfare programs were halted by the BJP government.

“The enrolment of students in government schools has dropped from one crore to 67 lakh. Over 300 government English-medium schools have been shut. People are angry with this government, and as Rahul Gandhi exposed the BJP’s ‘vote theft’, the public now believes Modi became prime minister for the third time through vote theft,” he claimed.

Targeting BJP's chief whip Jogeshwar Garg, Dotasara said, “The state is witnessing repeated tragedies killing innocent people, yet a Cabinet-rank minister like Garg cites astrologers’ predictions. When the government itself believes in astrologers to explain such incidents, one can imagine what the state has been reduced to.” Garg had earlier said, “astrologers had forecast an increase in the accidents this year”, drawing flak for the remark.

On being asked if the Congress had failed to mount pressure for resignations despite multiple tragedies, Dotasara denied the charge. “No, the Congress has not failed. The resignation should come from the entire BJP government; it is a defective government,” he said.

He alleged that the BJP government “was formed through parchis (paper slips), not through consultation with elected representatives”.

In response to state Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena's assertion that farmers had received Rs 1,700 crore in compensation for crop damage, Dotasara stated that the Congress's rallies and demonstrations in Kota, Bundi, and Bhilwara were the cause.

Additionally, he asserted that "the Congress and its Seva Dal begin every program with Vande Mataram, while the RSS has never hoisted the national flag" and that "the RSS and BJP never chant Vande Mataram."