Rajasthan: Forest minister Sukhram Vishnoi skips CM Ashok Gehlot events

JAISALMER: Forest and environment minister Sukhram Vishnoi appears to be annoyed with chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Congressmen in Barmer and Jaisalmer, the two districts of which the minister is incharge, have been discussing it for some time. Vishnoi set the tongues wagging again during his visit to the twin districts on Friday.
Chief minister Gehlot virtually inaugurated a new oxygen plant in Jaisalmer’s Jawahar hospital set up by the power grid corporation from its CSR fund and a 100-bed covid hospital in Barmer set up by the Cairn India.Minister Vishnoi did not attend the inauguration programmes despite being in the districts. Sources said, district administration officials in neither of the two districts were aware of the minister’s movement details in their areas.
The minister, though, participated in the Congress campaign to demand free vaccines for all from the Centre and submitted a memorandum to the Barmer district collector.
During his visit to the two districts, he was without the government security men and was not travelling in his official car. Instead of using the car allotted for ministers, Vishnoi came to Jaisalmer and Barmer in a government vehicle from the Jalore district pool.
When reporters at Jaisalmer and Barmer asked if he was annoyed with the CM, Vishnoi denied but left Barmer around 12pm without waiting for the virtual inauguration of the Covid hospital.
On being asked about using the Jalore district pool vehicle, the minister said his official car was sent for servicing. He said his security personnel had gone to their villages. Despite his refusal about annoyance with Gehlot, his behaviour in Jaisalmer and Barmer on Friday clearly showed all was not well between him and the government.
At the press conference too, the minister was unable to properly reply to questions related to his department. Vishnoi avoided many questions.