Jodhpur:

The BJP on Sunday attacked former chief minister Ashok Gehlot after an audio clip of a conversation purportedly between him and his ex-OSD surfaced online, with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat accusing Mr Gehlot of resorting to illegal phone tapping to save his government.

Mr Gehlot’s then officer on special duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma had played the call recording between him and Mr Gehlot at a presser in April, claiming that the clips of alleged telephone conversation between Mr Shekhawat and some Congress leaders on “toppling” the state’s Congress government in 2020 was given to him in a pen drive by the former CM.

Sharma is an accused in a case related to the illegal phone tapping registered by Mr Shekhawat in Delhi.

The call recording purportedly between Mr Gehlot and Sharma recently surfaced on social media.

Reacting to this, Mr Shekhawat said, “The former chief minister had resorted to phone tapping in order to save his government. He recorded the phone conversation and saved it in a pen drive to make it public.” He said that this entire conversation is now in public domain and people know everything.

State Education Minister Madan Dilawar also launched a scathing attack on Mr Gehlot over the issue.

“Now it has become clear to everyone how Ashok Gehlot used to conspire. The revelations about phone tapping are gradually coming to light. As a result, Gehlot is scared of the ruling party. This is why he is not attending the assembly,” said Mr Dilawar.

Mr Dilawar was on a day’s visit to Jodhpur as the minister in-charge of the district and held a meeting with the officials with regard to implementation of budget announcements.

He said that phone tapping is a crime. But when Ashok Gehlot was the chief minister, he tapped the phone of former deputy CM Sachin Pilot, the state minister added.

“Now his (Gehlot’s) own people are exposing it. The people of Rajasthan now understand to what extent Gehlot has betrayed them,” he said.

After the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan were over in two phases in April this year, Lokesh Sharma had held a press conference in Jaipur to claim that Gehlot had given him some call recordings in a pen drive to circulate to the media.

The audio clips were allegedly related to the political crisis that erupted after Mr Pilot along with 18 other MLAs had revolted against Mr Gehlot’s leadership.

In 2020, three call recordings were circulated by Sharma to the media. It was alleged that clips contained telephonic conversations between Shekhawat and Congress leaders to topple the Gehlot government. Sharma at that time had claimed that he got the clips through social media.

Mr Shekhawat had registered a case in Delhi against Sharma in March 2021 on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telephonic conversations.

Sharma approached the Delhi High Court to quash the FIR. In June 2021, the high court granted an interim stay on coercive action against Sharma. Sharma said in April that he would give the evidence (to prove that call recordings were given to him by Gehlot) to the investigating agency.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh, Sachin Pilot, has refuted the allegations levelled by his former party colleague, Radhika Khera, and said that a leader needs “some reason” for changing their party.

Radhika Khera, who joined the BJP on Tuesday, alleged that she was “victimized” because she went to the Ayodhya Ram Mandir. She also criticized the Congress leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Sachin Pilot, for their silence regarding the mistreatment faced by her.

In an interview with ANI, Sachin Pilot said, “If someone wants to change parties, they have to find some reason…whether it is a visit to some temple…a person will have to do something; they have to find a reason.”

“Good luck to anybody who wants to shift party at any stage, it’s up to their individual decision. As a party, we are fighting elections for a larger purpose, not for individual satisfaction,” he added.

He said that this Lok Sabha election is “far bigger” than one individual, election, or party, and the voters have to make a big choice in the polls.

“This election is far bigger than one individual, one election, one party. This election is different in so many different ways. This election is really a choice of the voter to choose what’s already been going on and if they need to course correct. This election is about having the strength of our democracy go deeper and stronger, as supposed to getting weakened,” Sachin Pilot said.

Sachin Pilot served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan from 2018 to 2020 and President of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC). In the past, he was also the Minister of State under the UPA regime.

He further reiterated his claim ‘BJP Dakshin Mein Saaf, Uttar Mein Half’ and said that the Congress would win more seats than the BJP in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

The former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister said that the BJP wouldn’t be able to get any foothold in the southern states, and its tally in the north would also come down.

“Irrespective of how many rallies they do, or how much money they pump into the campaign, I don’t think BJP is going to get a foothold in southern India at all. In the north, they have maximized their seats in almost all the states…what goes up must come down. It’s not possible they will win this many seats again,” Sachin Pilot said.

“I am telling about two states — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where I travelled extensively, we (Congress) will probably get more seats than the BJP…Also important, if not more, are states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh because those are states with a much larger number of seats. That’s where the INDIA alliance partners and the Congress have to pull up our numbers,” he added.

Sachin Pilot also slammed the BJP over its ‘400 Paar’ slogan and asked why the party is inducting leaders from other parties. He also said there is a change in the speeches made by BJP leaders because they are sensing a change in voter’s sentiments.

“A party that is claiming to get 400 seats, why is it breaking other parties? They have so many capable leaders, why do they need Congress or any other party’s candidates? They (BJP) themselves level allegations on leaders, then themselves wash off the allegations, and induct them in the party,” he said.

“I think this ‘400 Paar’ is just political rhetoric, it is not rooted in reality, and more than me, BJP themselves realize that. That’s why, their speeches have changed now…it’s not what it was a month ago. That tells there is a palpable sense even among the ruling dispensation that people are yearning for a change,” he added.

The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with the first three phases over and the fourth one scheduled on May 13. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP is seeking to return for a third straight term to power, the INDIA bloc is aiming to stop the decade-long juggernaut.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jaipur:

Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday stressed that the party would fight the Rajasthan assembly polls “unitedly” and said that a decision on who would lead the next government would be taken by the high command after consultations with the newly-elected MLAs.

Exuding confidence that the Congress would buck the ‘revolving door’ trend in Rajasthan in the upcoming polls, the former deputy chief minister said the party is “absolutely united” with everyone’s priority and efforts directed towards repeating the government in the desert state.

In an exclusive interview with PTI ahead of the crucial Congress Working Committee meeting in Hyderabad, Mr Pilot said the Congress has lived up to all the election promises it made in the 2018 Rajasthan polls and that is why he believes, the state government and the party working together, will be able to defeat the BJP.

Asked about his assertion earlier that the party would go to the polls with collective leadership despite an incumbent Chief Minister in Ashok Gehlot, Mr Pilot said that has been the tradition and convention in the Congress not just in Rajasthan but all over the country.

“Once we win and get a majority, the legislators and the party leadership then decide who will lead the legislature party. This is not something new. This has been the practice for decades and in the states, we are going to polls in the next few months, the same policy would be followed,” he said.

Asked about the CM face of the party, Mr Pilot said, “Mr. (Mallikarjun) Kharge ji, Rahul (Gandhi) ji and Sonia ji are our leaders and in Rajasthan, we have a Congress government. So we have to work effectively, unitedly to win the majority.” 

“Once we secure the mandate, the legislators and the leadership will decide. Even last time in 2018, when I was the state party chief, we did not have a CM face, it was post elections that the legislators and the leadership, at that time it was Rahul ji as president, decided who will lead the government,” he said.

“Once we get a majority, MLAs will be consulted, leadership will take a considered view and decide on who will lead the government. It is nothing new and that is how it has always been done,” he told PTI.

Asked about Mr Gehlot calling him names such as ‘nikamma’, ‘nakara’ and ‘gaddar’, in the past and whether he had put that behind him, Mr Pilot said, “I have always shown utmost respect and restraint in all my public utterances. My values and upbringing do not permit me to use a language that would lower the dignity of our discourse.” 

“It is important to set an example for young people to follow,” he said.

Asked about no action taken till now against three Mr Gehlot loyalists who had not allowed a legislature party meeting to take place last year and were issued a show cause notice, Mr Pilot said, “I don’t want to comment on this, it is up to AICC to decide on such issues.” 

Mr Pilot claimed that the BJP is in “tatters” in the state and is facing various kinds of “contradictions” within its organisation. The BJP has not been able to perform the role of the ruling party at the Centre and has let down the people, and in equal measure it has not been able to perform the role of an opposition in Rajasthan whether inside the state assembly or outside, Mr Pilot alleged.

On the BJP criticism that the state has suffered on account of maintaining law and order due to his feud with Mr Gehlot, Mr Pilot hit back, saying that instead of politicising a sensitive issue the BJP should show the same concern at the atrocities committed on tribals and Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other BJP-ruled states.

“In Rajasthan whenever there has been a problem of law and order, the government has taken action, administration has responded, arrested the culprits and imposed strict punishment on the perpetrators,” he said.

“The BJP is in a complete mess as far as their organisation is concerned…They are just hoping that history would repeat itself without any efforts,” he said.

For four-and-a-half years the BJP was missing on the ground in Rajasthan and that is the reason that people don’t trust it, he claimed and alleged that the BJP has made laws against farmers, imposed a flawed GST and tinkered with so many policies. “The Congress under the leadership of Mr Kharge, Mr Gandhi will be able to win the elections in Rajasthan, MP and Chattisgarh,” he said.

Asked about his statement that he had been advised by party chief Kharge to forgive and forget and whether he had buried the hatchet with Mr Gehlot, Mr Pilot said, “The Congress party has always been united. Whatever issues we have, we are within our right to discuss, talk about it and make sure that people’s voices are heard at the highest levels. The leadership has taken cognisance of the issues I raised and steps have already been taken to address them.” 

Mr Pilot exuded confidence that the Congress would buck the revolving door trend in the state to form a government again. “I think our performance, our unity, coupled with BJP’s absence from the ground in the last four-and-a-half years and the constant pulls and pressures within the BJP among those trying to become CM, will see the Congress win,” he said.

“From the response and the feedback that I have gotten through my travels in the state, I am confident that we will be able to form the government,” Mr Pilot stressed.

In July, Mr Pilot made it clear that he had buried the hatchet with Rajasthan Chief Minister Gehlot on the advice of party president Kharge, saying collective leadership was the “only way” forward going into the assembly polls.

In an interview with PTI just days after a crucial Rajasthan polls strategy meeting of the party, Mr Pilot had said Kharge advised him to “forgive and forget” and move forward. “It was as much an advice as a directive.” “If there is a little back and forth, then it is not a big issue because the party and the public are more important than any individual. I also understand this and he (Mr Gehlot) also understands it,” the former Rajasthan deputy chief minister had said back then.

Mr Gehlot and Mr Pilot have been engaged in a power tussle since the Congress formed government in the state in 2018. In 2020, Mr Pilot led a revolt against Mr Gehlot after which he lost the posts of the party’s state unit president and deputy chief minister.

Last year, an attempt by the high command to effect a leadership change in Rajasthan had failed after some Mr Gehlot loyalists dug their heels in and acting contrary to the central leadership’s directives did not allow a legislature party meeting to take place. 
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)