‘If you have the red diary…’: Kapil Sibal counters Amit Shah's attack on Gehlot
Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal countered Amit Shah's demand for Rajasthan CM's resignation over the "red diary" controversy, asking him to produce it.
Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Sunday countered Union home minister Amit Shah's demand seeking Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot's resignation over the “red diary” controversy, saying the BJP leader doesn't have any such diary.
Shah was addressing a "Sahakar Kisan Sammelan" in Gangapur City in poll-bound Rajasthan on Saturday when a few people started raising slogans during the event.
Pointing to them, the home minister said, "I want to tell Gehlot saab that you will achieve nothing by sending some people to shout slogans. If there is any shame left in him, he should resign over the 'red diary' issue and enter the election fray."
"Nowadays Gehlot saab is very afraid of the colour red. The colour of the diary is red, but black deeds are hidden in it. The red diary has details of multi-crore corruption," he said.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Sibal, a former Congress leader, “Does he have the red diary? Amit Shahji, can you tell me if you have the red diary? If you have the red diary, why don't you tell the people of the country what are those corruption details? You don't have the red diary, you don't produce the red diary and yet you make allegations without knowing anything.”
The ‘red diary’ issue has become the latest flashpoint between the Gehlot government and the BJP.
The issue first surfaced when sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha claimed he had secured the red diary from the residence of Congress leader Dharmendra Rathore during an income tax raid in July 2020 on the directions of the chief minister, claiming it had details of Gehlot's financial transactions.
On August 2, Gudha released three pages of a ‘red diary’ with claiming they were proof of alleged corrupt practices and wrongdoings of the state Congress. Gudha held up the diary and also read a couple of pages from it saying he would continue revealing more secrets in the coming days.