Joshi-Shekhawat spat turns into poster war in Rajasthan

The Crime Branch had sent the notice to Joshi, asking him to appear before it on June 24 for questioning in the phone-tapping case lodged on a complaint by Shekhawat

The war of words between Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi and Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has escalated into a poster war in Jaipur.

Posters in Mahesh Joshi’s support have come up in Jaipur. (Sourced)

The Crime Branch had sent the notice to Joshi, asking him to appear before it on June 24 for questioning in the phone-tapping case lodged on a complaint by Shekhawat. The chief whip replied to it, refusing to appear before the Delhi Police.

The case was registered in March this year against the OSD to Rajasthan chief minister, Lokesh Sharma, on the complaint by the minster, who is also the BJP MP from Jodhpur. Sharma had allegedly circulated audio clips purportedly with Shekhawat talking about toppling the Congress government in the state. Sharma rejected the allegations and moved Delhi high court seeking quashing of the FIR against him.

Meanwhile, Joshi’s supporters have put up big hoardings at the prominent places in Jaipur. The hoardings with Joshi’s photo carry slogans such as ‘Har Anyay Ka Denge Jawab’ (will answer every injustice) and ‘Yah Anyay Nahi Sahega Jaipur’ (Jaipur will not tolerate this injustice).

Reacting to this, Shekhawat’s supporters held a demonstration with a poster depicting the minister as an elephant with some dogs barking charges like “ACB ka Pata Batau kya (should I tell the address of ACB)”, “Shekhawat ko Isteefa dena chahiye’ (Shekhawat should resign)”.

Shekhawat supporters protest near the Civil Lines railway crossing. (Sourced)

Leading the protest near Civil Lines railway crossing, Shekhawat supporter Prem Singh Banwasa said, “We held a demonstration against the chief whip who has been insulting the Union minister instead of appearing before the Delhi Police.”

Reacting to the demonstration, Joshi said, “PM Narendra Modi talks about the elimination of Covid-19 but BJP workers are polluting the environment by burning effigies. Till date, I don’t have any FIR against me. A wrong notice has been sent, if such a notice is sent in a threatening manner, we will protest again.”

After the Delhi Police notice, Joshi attacked Shekhawat, calling him a fugitive and asking why he has not given a voice sample to the anti-corruption bureau.