"No Bigger Achievement...": Ashok Gehlot On His Government's Performance

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said that there is no anti-incumbency in the state and there cannot be a bigger achievement than this.

"Even after four years, the people of Rajasthan are not against the state government, usually, such a situation happens everywhere and people start finding faults but in Rajasthan, the situation is different. There can be no bigger achievement than this for the state government," Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said during his address on the completion of four years of Congress government in Rajasthan on December 17.

He then reiterated a demand from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement social security across the country.

To mark the occasion, many government programmes were organised in Jaipur, including a development exhibition at the Jawahar Kala Kendra.

Talking about the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), Mr Gehlot said: "It is very important that the one who has served the government for 35 years gets security because it is high time for being concerned about social security. There should be a common policy for nationwide social security for which the finances should be managed by both the Centre and the states."

Adding further, he said that Rajasthan implemented the OPS but the Centre interfered with it which is against the Constitution.

"The state government has the right to decide the pension. Pension is a state subject, so OPS shall continue. The Center cannot interfere in this. There is a provision in the constitution itself that the Right To Pension rests with the state governments," Gehlot said.

Mr Gehlot also slammed Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and accused him of "misleading and cheating" the people of Rajasthan.

"PM Modi himself promised the national project to Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project in the public meetings during the last elections here, but now the Center is stalling this scheme. Whatever scuffle is going on between former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and Gajendra Singh is their personal but why should the public suffer for the personal clashes between them?" he said.

Meanwhile, he also said that it was only the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) which helped the people during the Coronavirus pandemic and the state has also come up with the Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme in Rajasthan.