Rajasthan crisis: Ready for probe, says union minister Shekhawat

On Friday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala while addressing media persons in Jaipur said the party has tapes to prove that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was conspiring to topple the state government.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union minister and Jodhpur Member of Parliament (MP), has categorically denied the allegations made by the Congress that he was colluding with the opposition party rebels to topple the Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan and has demanded a probe to verify the authenticity of the audiotapes that have gone viral on social media.

Gajendra Shekhawat, who has been at the forefront of lashing out at the Gehlot government for blaming the BJP for the Congress’s internal power tussle, denied that the purported voice on the tape as his.

On Friday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala while addressing media persons in Jaipur said the party has tapes to prove that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was conspiring to topple the state government. He cited audio clips in which Bhanwar Lal, who belongs to the sacked deputy CM and Gehlot challenger Sachin Pilot’s camp, is alleged to have conspired with the BJP leaders.

Shekhawat, who has been at the forefront of lashing out at the Gehlot government for blaming the BJP for the Congress’s internal power tussle, denied that the purported voice on the tape as his.

The minister also denied that he had a telephonic conversation with an intermediary called Sanjay Jain, whom the Congress alleged that has also been caught speaking on tape.

Surjewala said the Congress has demanded that the SOG (Special Operations Group) of the Rajasthan Police should file an FIR (first information report) against Shekhawat, Lal, and Jain.

The BJP has been vehemently denying that it instigated the bid to ensure the fall of the Gehlot government or engineered defection by colluding with Pilot and a bunch of lawmakers, who are supporting him.