Watch: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot reads old budget in Assembly for 8 minutes, BJP questions state's safety

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot read aloud the Budget address from the previous year for a number of minutes.

Updated : Feb 10, 2023, 03:36 PM IST | Edited by : Maitry Kothari

Watch: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot reads old budget in Assembly for 8 minutes, BJP questions state's safety

Rajasthan Budget 2023: Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthan Chief Minister planned to read Rajasthan’s budget in the Assembly on February 10, 2023, but accidentally reads out the old Budget speech for 8 minutes before realising it.

मुख्यमंत्री जी ने पुराना बजट पढ़ा…
राजस्थान में अब बजट भी लीक…#सच_तो_ये_है #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/VwHVXN4ozj
— Satish Poonia (@DrSatishPoonia) February 10, 2023

He stopped after being interrupted by Congress minister Mahesh Joshi. The Assembly got adjourned for 30 minutes after this blunder incident happened.

Gehlot began reading the text while referencing previous schemes and urban development plans that had been put into place the last year. Congressman Mahesh Joshi halted Gehlot at that point, and the chief minister apologised.

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The opposition leaders refused to let the matter go despite speaker C P Joshi's request for them to maintain calm. BJP MLAs staged a sit-in inside the House well following the adjournment.

Over Ashok Gehlot's gaffe, the opposition BJP caused a commotion within the House and sat in the well. The budget for the fiscal year 2023–2024 was presented to the Assembly in the morning by Gehlot, who also holds the portfolio for finance. The budget's theme was "Bachat, Rahat, Badhat" (saving, relief, and progress).

Vasundhara Raje, a BJP leader and former chief minister of Rajasthan, criticised Gehlot for the error and stated, "When I was the CM, I used to repeatedly check and read before presenting the budget. You can imagine how safe the state is in the hands of a CM who reads out an old budget."

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#WATCH | Rajasthan State Assembly proceedings disrupted as the Opposition alleges that CM Ashok Gehlot presented old budget today

This budget cannot be presented. Was it leaked?: BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria pic.twitter.com/Ns4jCrVoYY
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) February 10, 2023

"You can point out only if there's a difference between what's written in the Budget in my hand and its copies given to the House members," Gehlot retorted in response to the opposition. He denied the claims of a leak and questioned how such a matter could come up. He said that his Budget copy had unintentionally received an extra page.

You (Opposition) can point out only if there's a difference b/w what's written in the budget in my hand and its copies given to the House members. If a page was added to my budget copy by mistake, then how does the matter of leaking of budget arise?: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot pic.twitter.com/L3C1pzuOiG
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) February 10, 2023

Assembly Speaker CP Joshi expressed regret for the error and claimed that the incident led to a "wrong history." It has never happened before, he claimed, for such an incidence.

Despite the uproar, Speaker CP Joshi gave CM Ashok Gehlot permission to deliver the budget for 2023–24 a second time. The state's citizens would not forgive them if they opposed it, CM Ashok Gehlot warned BJP MLAs, therefore they should enable him to make the budget statement for the upcoming fiscal year.