Vaibhav Gehlot resigns as president of Rajasthan Cricket Association

Gehlot took to X (formerly Twitter) and released a statement announcing his resignation.

Gehlot, who is also a Congress leader, said he started working as the president of RCA in 2019. He pointed out the poor condition of RCA under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government before CP Joshi took over as the president in 2017. Gehlot said that he took over the president in 2019 and made efforts to uplift cricket in the state.

"In the year 2019, I started working as the President of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA). Everyone knows what was the situation in RCA during the tenure of the previous BJP government before Shri CP Joshi became the RCA President in 2017 and what was the plight of cricket in Rajasthan. BCCI even banned RCA due to which neither cricket matches could be held here nor the Rajasthan cricket team could participate in any tournament. After Shri CP Joshi, I got the opportunity to work on this post and he acted as a mentor and guided us. My objective was to promote cricket in Rajasthan and connect more and more youth with this game," said Gehlot.

"International and IPL cricket matches were not held in Rajasthan for a long time. I tried at the BCCI level and took the approval from BCCI to organise international and then IPL matches in Jaipur and both were successfully organised here. So that the talents of Rajasthan can get more opportunities to play, Rajasthan Premier League (RPL) was organised, whose matches were successfully organised in Jaipur and Jodhpur. It was my endeavour that cricket in Rajasthan should not be limited only to Jaipur city, hence, in coordination with the Rajasthan Government, the renovation work of Barkatullah Khan Stadium in Jodhpur was done and RPL matches were organised there. The work of building a cricket stadium for international matches started in Udaipur. The possibility of building cricket stadiums in other cities also started to be explored," he added.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav pointed out that RCA does not have a stadium of its own and international cricket was announced at Swai Mansingh Stadium under agreement with the Gujarat government. But he started work in collaboration with Vedanta Group on a new stadium on Jaipur-Delhi road. He also said that the group contributed Rs 300 crores for the new facility and Rs 60 crores have been spent on construction work so far.

"RCA does not have any stadium of its own. International cricket matches were organised at SMS Stadium under agreement with the RCA Rajasthan government. In order to have its own stadium, RCA started construction of a new stadium in collaboration with Vedanta Group on Jaipur Delhi Road which will be the third largest cricket stadium in the world. Due to my efforts, Vedanta gave Rs 300 crore for this stadium, out of which Rs 60 crore has been spent in the construction work. This will also create a new cricket economy around Jaipur and along with sports, employment will also be promoted," said Gehlot.

https://twitter.com/VaibhavGehlot80/status/1762021684968587602

Gehlot said that his aim was the betterment of Rajasthan cricket and that is why he was elected president once again unopposed. But the new BJP government in the state, led by Bhajan Lal Sharma, started to work against him with a "malicious intent", he accused. He also accused the government of locking the doors of the RCA office in a non-judgmental manner and creating an atmosphere of distrust in the RCA by targeting him. With such activities going against him, he does not want RCA to face any losses and thus he decided to resign from his post.

"Throughout my tenure, I tried for the betterment of cricket and to raise the name of RCA, that is why I was elected unopposed as the President of RCA for the second time. But after the change of government in Rajasthan, action against RCA was started with a malicious intent. In a non-judgmental manner, the RCA office was hastily locked. Now efforts have been started to create an atmosphere of distrust in the Rajasthan Cricket Association by targeting me. Due to this, there is a possibility of spoiling the positive atmosphere of cricket in the state. In such a situation, it is unbearable for me that there should be any crisis on IPL matches in the state and cricket should suffer losses. Therefore, to save the state's cricket and cricket players from this situation, I voluntarily resign from the post of President of Rajasthan Cricket Association," said Gehlot.

He also said that he has been informed of a no-confidence motion being passed against him but no officer or member of RCA discussed this issue or any other disagreements with him. Gehlot said that he will be available for the interests of Rajasthan Cricket, cricketers, etc. in future.

"I have received information that a no-confidence motion has also been presented against me. In this regard, all I have to say is that no officer or member of RCA discussed with me nor expressed disagreement on any issue, otherwise I would have already tendered my resignation. For me, the future of cricket and cricket players of the state is not important for me and I will never let it get affected. In future, I will always be available for the interests of Rajasthan cricket, cricketers and cricket lovers," he concluded. (ANI)