JAIPUR: Phone tapping charges have come back to haunt the Ashok Gehlot government.
Congress MLA from Jaipur district’s Chaksu seat Ved Prakash Solanki, a vocal supporter of Sachin Pilot, on Saturday alleged that some legislators told him about their phones being tapped.
Solanki, however, declined to name the MLAs who told this to him.
He also had no idea who was tapping the phones and on whose orders.
“I do not know if my phone is being tapped or not? I am also not aware if the state government is involved in phone tapping or not.
But some legislators told me about their phones being recorded,” Solanki told TOI.
Solanki said these MLAs used an App to learn that their phones were being tapped.
The Chaksu MLA further claimed that some of these MLAs even informed the chief minister about their phone tapping fears but the latter laughed off the matter.
Solanki said the same MLAs informed him that police and intelligence personnel were keeping a watch over them.
“The MLAs also shared about how some government officials cautioned them against being trapped by the anti-corruption bureau,” said Solanki.
He added, “I cannot understand why these MLAs are scared of speaking up openly.” On being asked if these MLAs belonged to the Sachin Pilot camp, Solanki replied, “They are Congress MLAs.” Congress chief whip in the assembly Mahesh Joshi reacted by saying, “These are baseless charges.
A responsible person like an MLA should make a public statement after verifying things on proof.” Transport minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said, “This is a BJP and RSS ploy to divert public attention from the corruption charges against their members in the bribery deal connected with the city’s sanitation issues.
RSS man was seen in the viral video in which Rs 20-cr bribery is being demanded from the sanitation company.” BJP state president Satish Poonia tweeted, “Today again a Congress MLA is saying that many MLAs say their phones are being tapped, spying is happening.
Congress should tell who these MLAs are? The Congress is intimidating its own MLAs on the lines of ‘so jaa beta Gabbar aa jayega’ (dialogue from a Bollywood classic).
Congress should tell when will Gabbar come?” Last July when Pilot and 18 Congress legislators rebelled against chief minister Gehlot, one of the accusations they levelled was about illegal phone tapping.
The charges gained ground when audio clips of telephonic conversations allegedly between union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and two Congress legislators were shared by Gehlot’s officer on special duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma.
The audio clips were later handed over to Rajasthan police’s special operations group (SOG) to investigate charges that Shekhawat and some legislators were trying to topple an elected government through horse trading.
SOG ultimately closed the case after a truce between Gehlot and Pilot mediated by Congress central leadership.
Union minister Shekhawat recently lodged an FIR against Sharma in New Delhi in the same matter but the Delhi high court barred the police from acting against the accused till further orders.
Sachin Pilot camp fires fresh ‘phone tap’ salvo
