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In state assembly, Rajasthan govt denies tapping phones of MLAs and MPs
The BJP, however, sought an inquiry led by the Central Bureau of Investigation and created a ruckus in the assembly which led to adjournment of the House twice.
The Rajasthan government informed the state assembly on Wednesday that it did not tap phones of any legislator during last year’s political crisis.
Rejecting the Bharatiya Janata Party’s allegations on phone tapping, parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal said the opposition party was making an issue in order to protect Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
He said the chief minister would offer his resignation if these allegations were proved right. “Not only the chief minister, all of us will resign,” he said.
The BJP, however, sought an inquiry led by the Central Bureau of Investigation and created a ruckus in the assembly which led to adjournment of the House twice.
The controversy around phone tapping erupted in July last year when former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs rebelled against chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
At the time, three purported audio clips surfaced in which Shekhawat and some Congress leaders could be heard discussing a conspiracy to topple Gehlot’s government. Chief whip Mahesh Joshi then filed FIRs with the Special Operations Group (SPG) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
On the BJP’s allegations that the audio clips were prepared and circulated by Lokesh Sharma, the OSD to the chief minister, Dhariwal said the audio clips were received on WhatsApp. He stressed that forwarding an audio clip on WhatsApp was not a crime.
Dhariwal apprised the House that the SOG last year intercepted phones of two persons — Ashok Singh and Bharat Malani — with permission from the Home Department, after receiving information about illegal arms smuggling and movement of explosives. He said none of them was a politician but during the interception, conspiracy to depose the Gehlot government was exposed and that the SOG inspector lodged an FIR in the matter.
The minister reiterated that the government did not order any MLA’s, MP’s or an elected representative’s phone-tapping.
