I was offered Rs 25 crore for my Rajya Sabha vote: Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha
Jaipur: Rajasthan's minister of state for soldiers' welfare Rajendra Gudha has claimed he was offered ₹ 25 crore if he voted for a particular candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
The MLA, who switched from the Bahujan Samaj Party to the Congress earlier, claimed that he was similarly offered ₹ 60 crore during the rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in 2020.
Mr Gudha said he spurned both offers and did not mention any leader or a party while making the allegation.
The minister in the state's Congress government was addressing an event at a private school in Jhunjhunu on Monday.
In a video which surfaced Tuesday, he is heard replying to a question from a student. "I had an offer of ₹ 25 crore to give my vote to one person. I then asked my wife," he said, adding that she told him that they would rather have "goodwill".
He also referred to the rebellion against the Gehlot government by the then deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
"I would also like to tell you that when the political crisis was going on, I had an offer of ₹ 60 crore. I talked to my family. My wife, son and daughter said that they want goodwill and not money," he said.
"When those with you think like that, everything will be fine," he told the schoolgirl.
Mr Gudha is one of the six MLAs who won the 2018 assembly elections as BSP candidates and joined the Congress in 2019. They remained in the Gehlot camp when Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs revolted against his leadership in July 2020.
Mr Gudha was made a minister of state, handling the department for the welfare of ex-servicemen, during the cabinet expansion in November 2021.
Mr Gehlot has repeatedly accused the BJP of trying to destabilise his government by offering crores of rupees to MLAs.
In the Rajya Sabha elections held for four seats in June, the BJP had supported independent candidate and media baron Subhash Chandra.
Mr Chandra was defeated. Three ruling Congress nominees and a BJP candidate won the Rajya Sabha elections from the state.
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Cristiano Ronaldo scores his 100th Saudi Pro League goal
Riyadh (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th Saudi Pro League goal as Al-Nassr beat Al-Shabab 4-2 to move five points clear at the top of the table.
The 41-year-old forward converted a Sadio Mané cross at the near post with 15 minutes remaining to record the 971st goal of his career on Thursday. It was also his 26th league goal of the season.
“Ronaldo is always dangerous going forward and we saw that again today,” Al-Nassr coach Jorge Jesus said.
João Félix, signed from Chelsea in July, scored three goals for the league leaders.
The win took Al-Nassr to 82 points from 32 games, five ahead of Al-Hilal, which has three matches, one more than Nassr, left to play. Al-Hilal meets Al-Kholood on Friday and faces Nassr on Tuesday in what could be a title decider against its Riyadh rival.
“Now we have a derby match against our rival, which is a difficult encounter,” Jesus said.
“We are fully aware of its importance, and we are dealing with it with complete focus as we know that small details could decide the result.”
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, has yet to secure a major trophy in Saudi Arabia since signing with Al-Nassr in December 2022.
