Jaipur: A Congress MLA has alleged that phones are being tapped of some of the MLAs, although he did not name them. This is a second controversy relating to phone tapping in just one year but this time the allegations have come from a Congress leader. Although the charges were denied by the cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachriyawas who said ‘the charges are baseless as the government doesn’t tape the phones of anybody.’
The allegations are levelled by Congress MLA Ved Prakash Solanki who is believed to be a loyalist of former deputy CM Sachin Pilot and is a very vocal member of the dissident faction of Rajasthan Congress. He said ‘I do not know if my phone is being tapped or not. Some legislators have told me that their phones are being tapped. I am also not aware if the state government is involved in phone tapping. Many officials told them (legislators) that it seems that there are efforts underway to trap them," he said that MLAs also fear of being trapped by various agencies like the anti-corruption bureau. He claimed that some MLAs have informed the Chief Minister about the matter.
Countering this cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachriyawas said that the Rajasthan government doesn’t tape phones of anybody. This is not our character. He said ‘if any of our MLA has any information regarding this then he should name them and inform the Chief Minister.’ He alleged BJP for all this and said this is the conspiracy of BJP.
Commenting on this the union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that the state government has accused many times of illegal phone tapping and using it as a political weapon. He said ‘last year CM had denied the phone tapping but his minister accepted this in assembly and said it was done legally Now if some Congress MLAs have said to complained of illegal phone tapping then CM should clarify the situation.’
It is to note that the Rajasthan government was accused by BJP of almost the same charges last year during the political crisis of the Ashok Gehlot government when audio clips of telephonic conversations allegedly between union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and two Congress MLAs were allegedly shared from the government side.
