Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on November 3 challenged senior BJP leader and former CM Vasundhara Raje to a debate on the seven guarantees which the ruling Congress has offered to the people of Rajasthan if it is voted back to power in the State Assembly election.
Mr. Gehlot said the seven guarantees were the main issue in the 2023 Assembly election. “I challenge the leader of the Opposition party, Ms. Raje, to hold a debate with me on these guarantees,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Ms. Raje had on November 2 questioned the guarantees, saying the ruling party cannot guarantee its own survival. “People in Rajasthan are not foolish, they will not fall prey to false promises made by the Congress,” Ms. Raje said during a campaign event in Pali district.
As part of the seven guarantees, Mr. Gehlot had recently announced ₹10,000 every year for women heading households, purchase of cow dung at ₹ 2 per kg, laptop computers for government college students, free English medium education, free insurance against natural calamities, LPG cylinders for 1 crore families and Old Pension Scheme for government employees.
Addressing the ‘Congress guarantee dialogues’ in Deeg and Sapotra constituencies on Friday, Mr. Gehlot said the Congress had fulfilled whatever it had promised in the past. “People know that they are at the centre of all of our policies and programmes. We will keep our promises in future as well,” Mr. Gehlot said.
The dialogues coincided with the filing of nomination papers by Congress candidates Vishvendra Singh in Deeg and Ramesh Chand Meena in Sapotra. Both are Cabinet Ministers in the Gehlot government.
