Ashok Gehlot

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Ashok Gehlot (born May 3, 1951) is a leader of Indian National Congress party. He was chief minister of the Indian state of Rajasthan from 1 December 1998 to 8 December 2003. Earlier he was an MP in the Lok Sabha & was a junior Minister in the central government of India. He hails from Jodhpur City.

[edit] Positions Held

Member, Loksabha
Member, Rajasthan Legisletive Assembly
Member, Congress Working Committee
President, Rajasthan P C C
Chief Minister, Rajasthan
Home Minister, Rajasthan State
Minister, Central Government
Office bearer, NSUI

[edit] Controversy

Ashok Gehlot as a Chief Minister was alleged to be singly handedly responsible for the worst electoral defeat of the Congress Party in Rajasthan since the first general elections in 1952.

In April 2004 a property dealer released a tape to the electronic media in Jaipur that showed three ministers in then Ashok Gehlot Ministry, namely Choggaram Bakolia, Taqiuddin Ahmed and Gulab Singh Shaktawat taking money while promising official favours. The tape also showed deals being struck between Mr Pehalwan, the property dealer and Kanwar Sen Gehlot, elder brother of Mr Ashok Gehlot. [1]

In February 2003, Ashok Gehlot added the Trishul Diskha to the list of banned weapons in the state. The Trishul Diskha was a diluted version of the Trishul carried by many sadhus, as well as by Lord Shiva. It was being distributed by the VHP (World Hindu Council) and Bajrang Dal, a right-wing Hindu youth group. This was supposed to create a support wave for the Hindu right-wing party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).