Ashok Gehlot challenges Rajasthan CM's 'two vs five years' pitch, says BJP's three-year Jal Jeevan output trails Congress's single-year tally

Upon the release of "Budget Files", Gehlot directly challenged Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharmas "two years versus five years" argument, stating that the BJP government has failed to achieve in three years what the Congress government accomplished in just one year regarding the installation of tap connections under the 'Jal Jeevan Mission', a press release stated.

According to the data presented by Government of Indias Jal Jeevan Mission Dashboard 1,388,472 tap connections were recorded during the Congress governments term in 2022-23, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party government logged 944,618 tap connections in 2024-25, 271,691 in 2025-26, and approximately 79,000 in 2026-27 up to October, bringing the BJPs three-year total to roughly 12.95 lakh connections.

According to a press release, in 2022-23 alone, the Congress government provided tap water connections to 13.88 lakh households. The combined figure for the BJPs three financial years is even lower than that. In 2025-26, the pace dropped to less than one-fifth of what was achieved by the Congress in that single year.

Gehlot further pointed out that the BJP's 2023 election manifesto promised tap water for every household under the Jal Jeevan Mission by 2025, stating that a year has already passed.

Recalling announcements made in February and July 2024, Gehlot noted that while blaming the previous administration, the government promised to provide tap water connections to 25 lakh rural households. The budget speech also mentioned an expenditure of 15,000 crore. Even after three financial years, the figure has not reached 15 lakh. Against a target of 25 lakh for 2024-25, only 9.45 lakh tap connections were installed.

According to a review at the Chief Secretary level in July 2026, out of 107.74 lakh rural households in the state, only 63.61 lakh (59 per cent) have received tap water connections. In other words, approximately 4.4 million (44 lakh) families are still waiting for tap water, even though the national average coverage has surpassed 80 per cent.

"The Chief Minister frequently contrasts 'two years' with 'five years.' My direct question is: can they, under the Jal Jeevan Mission, demonstrate that they have accomplished as much in three years as the Congress government did in just one? The BJP government in Rajasthan has stalled a scheme that the Prime Minister himself announced from the Red Fort. Payments to contractors are held up, forcing them to repeatedly halt work yet the government remains indifferent. While it is the government's prerogative to conduct investigations, what kind of justice is it to punish the women and mothers in our villages by cutting off their water supply? It was announced in the budget, yet water has not reached their homes. This is the reality of the BJP government," Gehlot stated.

Pressing the chief minister for answers on why budget announcements have not translated into household connections, Gehlot laid out three specific questions,

He asked, the budget promised 4.5 million (45 lakh) tap connections over two years; why couldn't even 1.5 million (15 lakh) be provided?

Turning to the administration's earlier timeline and its impact on ongoing works, Gehlot asked when the manifesto commitment would actually be met and how long contractors would have to wait for dues, so halted projects could restart, questioning by which year the promise made in the manifesto, 'tap water in every home by 2025 ', would be fulfilled, and when the outstanding payments to contractors would be cleared so that the stalled projects can resume? the press release stated.(ANI)