Will get ERCP implemented if BJP's Rajendra Rathore comes to power in Rajasthan: Shekhawat in video

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has said he will get the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project ERCP implemented if BJP leader Rajendra Rathore comes to power in the state, triggering a sharp reaction from the Congress.This shows the BJP has not granted national project status to the ERCP only because of greed for power, Congress leader Pawan Khera said.In a purported video that emerged on social media, Shekhawat is seen walking towards his vehicle with Rathore, the leader of opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, and heard telling some people, I will get the ERCP implemented...

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has said he will get the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) implemented if BJP leader Rajendra Rathore comes to power in the state, triggering a sharp reaction from the Congress.

This shows the BJP has not granted national project status to the ERCP only because of greed for power, Congress leader Pawan Khera said.

In a purported video that emerged on social media, Shekhawat is seen walking towards his vehicle with Rathore, the leader of opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, and heard telling some people, ''I will get the ERCP implemented... give Rs 46,000 crore but you bring Rajendra Rathore to power (in Rajasthan).'' The Jal Shakti minister and Rathore were in Sawai Madhopur on Monday. The video was shot by someone present there.

Reacting to the video, Pawan Khera, chairman of media and publicity, AICC said Shekhawat's statement is an insult to public sentiment.

''This statement shows that the BJP has no sympathy for the suffering of the people of Rajasthan and the BJP has not given the status of a national project or any special grant to the East Rajasthan Canal Project only because of greed for power,'' Khera said in a statement.

The ERCP was conceptualised by the former BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje to provide drinking and irrigation water to 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan through interlinking of rivers.

The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government has been demanding national status for the project from the Centre and has targeted Shekhawat, the Jodhpur MP, over the issue on several occasions.

''Despite being elected (to the Lok Sabha) from Rajasthan and becoming the Union Jal Shakti minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has not been able to get even a single penny from the central government for this ambitious project.

''Even in the Jal Jeevan Mission, he has failed to provide any special assistance to Rajasthan despite it being a desert state,'' Khera charged.

In his speeches in Jaipur on July 7, 2018 and in Ajmer on October 6, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the ERCP will be granted the status of a national project but it was not done as the BJP was defeated in the state polls, Khera said.

He said the Congress government in Rajasthan had made a provision of Rs 9,600 crore in the 2022-23 budget and Rs 13,500 crore in the 2023-24 budget for the ERCP and formed the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project Corporation to monitor the work on the project.

''Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has publicly clarified whether the central government cooperates or not, the work on the East Rajasthan Canal Project will be completed in the interest of the public,'' he added.

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said the states where people defeat the BJP stop getting the ''blessings'' of the prime minister.

''The manner in which the central government is obstructing the implementation of Anna Bhagya Yojana 2.0 after the defeat in Karnataka is in front of everyone. The Modi government has done something similar in the case of the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project,'' Ramesh said in a tweet.

He said Shekhawat's statement is the ''height of shamelessness'' and against the federal spirit of the country.

Former Union minister Bhanwar Jitendra Singh said it is clear from Shekhawat's statement that the BJP is stalling the project.

Rajasthan Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas accused the Centre of indulging in vendetta politics over the matter.

''You are the Union minister and talking like this. The central government indulged in vendetta politics over the issue which is seen from the minister's (Shekhawat's) statement as well,'' he told reporters in Jaipur.