Jaipur: In the recently concluded Budget session of the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, 9,800 questions were received from MLAs, but ten senior legislators, including Ashok Gehlot, Vasundhara Raje and Sachin Pilot, had no queries.
Gehlot and Raje reportedly did not attend any of the 20 meetings of their respective parties held during the session.
The budget session of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, which commenced on January 31, was adjourned indefinitely on Thursday. During this session, the state government introduced 14 bills, but only 10 were passed.
Among the participating MLAs, 36 (21.55 per cent) reached the set limit of 100 questions, while 131 MLAs (78.45 per cent) did not reach this limit. Fourteen MLAs failed to ask even 10 questions.
Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully, when questioned about the silence of former Chief Minister Gehlot and ex-Deputy CM Pilot in the Assembly, stated, “They are veterans and might have refrained from asking questions to allow opportunities for younger members.” He also pointed out that the BJP veteran leader, Vasundhara Raje also did not raise any questions.
BJP state spokesperson Laxmikant Bharadwaj defended Raje’s silence, stating, “She has been a senior BJP leader, a former Union Minister, and a two-time Chief Minister of Rajasthan. As this is a BJP-led government, she may be satisfied with its performance, which could explain why she did not raise any questions.”
Another BJP spokesperson, Pankaj Meena, criticized Congress leaders, remarking, “It is unfortunate to see Congress members turning the House into a battleground while their senior leaders chose to raise vital issues on social media instead of in the Assembly.”
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma also targeted Gehlot recently, accusing him of prioritising social media over Assembly discussions.
Speaking at a farmers’ conference in Bikaner, CM Sharma remarked, “The former Chief Minister did not attend the Assembly even for a single day, yet he remains highly active on Twitter.”
On Monday, March 24, at 8,26 p.m., Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani adjourned the third session of the 16th Legislative Assembly indefinitely. Devnani highlighted that this session marked the transition to a paperless system, with iPads introduced for legislative work. The Assembly chamber was also redesigned in pink, reflecting Jaipur’s iconic Pink City aesthetic.
The budget estimates for the 2025-26 fiscal year were presented on February 19, 2025. Unlike previous sessions, this time, an extra day was allocated for general debate, totalling five days, during which 96 MLAs participated.
On February 27, the Deputy Chief Minister responded to the debate on the revised budget. Out of the 64 demands for grants across different departments, discussions were scheduled for 17 of them over eight days.
The Assembly received 4,319 cut proposals on these demands, of which 3,789 were discussed, while 530 were rejected.
(IANS)
