Centre asks Raj Chief Secy to file report; Cong claims Opp caught red-handed in bid to buy MLAs
The political row between the Congress and the BJP over the audio tapes, in which Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma are allegedly heard plotting to topple the Ashok Gehlot Government, continued on Saturday with the BJP demanding a CBI probe into telephone tapping and the Congress claiming the BJP leaders have been caught red-handed in attempting to buy MLAs.
The Centre too stepped into the row with the Home Ministry seeking report from the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan on the telephone tapping.
Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra claimed that the Special Operation Group (SOG) team was made to wait by the BJP Government’s Haryana Police until the Sachin Pilot camp’s MLAs inside the resort (in Manesar) were moved out through a separate secret door.
“This shows the complicity of the BJP and its Haryana Government in the crime,” Dotsra said, adding, “Will Sachin Pilot and Congress MLAs explain why they do not trust the police of their own State. These answers should be given to the Central leadership,” Dotasra said.
There was a huge drama when the Rajasthan SOG reached Manesar and when they were prevented by the Haryana Police late on Friday.
The SOG said the audio will be first examined by FSL and then the accused will be interrogated.
The Anti-Corruption bureau of Rajasthan too registered an FIR after complaint by Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi with regard to the two audio clips.
A Jaipur court on Saturday send one accused, Sanjay Jain to four-day remand of SOG team of Rajasthan Police.
The other people named by the Congress in both the FIRs are Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat and two Congress MLAs who have been suspended from the party a day earlier.
Sources said that MLAs camping at Gurugram resorts can now be moved to Bengaluru city where the dissidents Madhya Pradesh MLAs of Congress led by Jyotiraditya Scindia were kept until the Kamal Nath Goverment was toppled in March this year.
Meanwhile, "the BJP demanded CBI probe into the alleged phone tapping by the Congress leaders and sought to know whether the Congress Government in Rajasthan resorted to "unconstitutional" methods to tap phones of politicians.
BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra hit back at the Congress a day after it cited some audio clips to accuse some saffron party leaders, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, of conspiring to topple the Ashok Gehlot Government in the State and indulging in horse-trading.
Patra said senior Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Gehlot, have been claiming that these audio clips are authentic even though the FIR registered by police does not say so.
"These are serious questions that we want to ask the Congress high command and Ashok Gehlot. Was phone tapping done? Assuming that you've tapped phones, was the SOP followed? Did the Congress Government in Rajasthan use unconstitutional ways to save themselves when they found themselves cornered?" Patra asked at a press conference.
People of Rajasthan want to know whether their privacy has been compromised, he said, asking if phones of people related to politics in the State are being tapped?
Patra demanded an immediate reaction from the State Government and called for a CBI investigation into this "saga of illegalities and concocted lies".
The Congress on Friday demanded the arrest of Union Minister Shekhawat and rebel Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma after two audio clips surfaced pertaining to an alleged conspiracy to topple the Gehlot Government.
Shekhawat has denied the charge, saying his voice is not in these clips. He said he was ready to face any probe.
Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria, said that the Home Secretary as well as the Chief Secretary of the State have so far denied having given permission to tap the phones of Opposition's politicians. "Isn't it a violation of our civil rights to tap phone without authorisation? We don't demand a floor test, but if Ashok Gehlot thinks he has a majority, he should prove it in Assembly," said Kataria at a Press conference.
Congress responded to the above claims by saying that the saffron party has finally admitted to its role in the "murder of democracy". "The BJP has now admitted to its role in the murder of democracy in Rajasthan. Their only grievance was that when we were murdering, why were we getting recorded and if we were getting recorded was it legal," party spokesperson Pawan Khera said.
Khera, speaking to media after Sambit Patra's allegations on phone tapping, said it was an admission of crime by the saffron party instead. Patra sought to know whether the phone conversation recorded was done through phone-tapping.
"While murdering democracy, the criminal is concerned about whether he was recorded and if yes, then recorded legally," he quipped, while also raising questions on Sachin Pilot's actions.
The Congress further said while advocates considered close to the BJP were busy defending the fact that Pilot and his dissident MLAs were still in the Congress, the camp was in the custody of the BJP-ruled State Haryana. Congress MLAs can be seen relaxing with yoga, a film screening and culinary classes at the luxury hotel.