‘People know who got Dara Singh and Anandpal killed’

JAIPUR: Accused of betting on elections and denied a chance to respond on the charge in the house, leader of opposition, Rameshwar Dudi, went ballistic on Monday. On his target were chief minister Vasundhara Raje, home minister Gulab Chand Kataria and parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore.
After bringing the state assembly to a standstill last Friday, the matter rocked the house again on Monday. Following uproars, the house was adjourned twice. The opposition said it would not allow CM’s reply on budget debate until Dudi was allowed time to clarify on the betting charge.

Inside the house, speaker Kailash Meghwal said the opposition members were conducting as if they were in jungle and called them enemies of democracy, while outside the house Congress whip Govind Singh Dotasra said the house was not being governed by rules.

Dudi accused Rathore of leveling the charge in the house without serving a notice under the assembly rules. The agitated leader of opposition counter accused the parliamentary affairs minister in reference to bootlegger Dara Singh’s encounter in 2006 and put question marks on encounters of gangsters Sohrabuddin (2005) and Anandpal Singh (2017) as well.

Last week, a video clip had gone viral in which Dudi was shown confiding about having bet Rs 3cr on elections. On February 16, the ruling party members and the opposition fought over the matter in the house, forcing the speaker to adjourn the assembly for the day.

As the house was repeatedly adjourned again on Monday, Dudi clarified his position before the media. “The video clip is part of a press conference where reporters asked me questions on betting. I told them there was betting in 2004 elections when I was contesting against film star Dharmendra from Bikaner (Lok Sabha). My supporters told me that more than Rs 3-cr was betted.”

He added, “I come from a humble farming background and know nothing about betting. But as part of a conspiracy, Rathore got the 45-minute video edited to a 40-second clip to accuse me of betting.”

Training his guns at Raje, Dudi said, “We want action on people involved in betting but this government stands for the bookies. Lalit Modi is country’s biggest bookie but the CM gave an affidavit to London authorities certifying that he is of good character.”

Targeting Rathore, Dudi said, “He has not been acquitted; he is free because Supreme Court has stayed high court’s review order. He was in jail for 60 days. The entire state knows who got Dara Singh killed and who got Anandpal Singh killed. Rathore used his money and authority to silence people; everyone knows it.”

Home minister Kataria was next in Dudi’s line of fire. “There is one Sohrabuddin encounter case too. The way the home minister got out and was acquitted is no secret for the countrymen. In the coming times, we will expose each and every ‘black deed’ of theirs.”

Parliamentary affairs minister Rathore later told reporters, “Dudi has lost his mental balance. I have been cleared by the trial court in Jaipur. The matter is now pending before the high court, so it can be discussed neither in assembly not in public.”