Smartphone politics in Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot govt lashes out after BJP MLAs return iPhone 13

The Rajasthan government lashed out at the Opposition after the state BJP MLAs announced that they will return the iPhones given to them on Wednesday.

The Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan government lashed out at the Opposition after the state BJP announced that the party MLAs will return the iPhones received from the government.

The state government, after the presentation of the state budget on Wednesday, decided to distribute iPhone 13 to the Members of the Legislative Assembly.

But the matter has become a full-blown political issue in Rajasthan with BJP MLAs first accepting and then returning the iPhone 13 handsets they took on Wednesday."The BJP MLAs had held a meeting in which it was decided to return the iPhones. All of us have mobile phones, we make use of the internet. The right kind of message needs to be sent to people and that is why we have decided to return the phones. It was an almost unanimous decision,” Dr Satish Poonia, state BJP chief, said.

Gehlot government had purchased 250 iPhones, out of which, 200 were to be distributed amongst MLAs.

Each iPhone 13 was purchased for Rs 89,000 and a total of Rs 1.78 crore was spent by the state government on the purchase.

Last year, the state government gave iPads to the MLAs. Earlier, laptops were also distributed to the elected representatives.

"The BJP MLAs had earlier taken expensive flats at subsidized rates. They had also taken laptops and iPads. They can go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tell him that the Ashok Gehlot government has presented a public welfare budget. People had called me up claiming how happy they were with the budget of the Rajasthan government," Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, cabinet minister of the Rajasthan government, said.