Jaipur: Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Thursday that he is not aware of the allegations levelled against him by his former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma of hatching a phone-tapping plan during the political crisis in the state in 2020.
The alleged phone-tapping incident — which created a huge uproar during the political crisis in Rajasthan in 2020 — took a dramatic turn on Wednesday after Lokesh Sharma held Gehlot responsible for the phone-tapping, alleging that the ex-CM himself handed him a pen drive which carried three audio clips along with a piece of paper.
Addressing a press conference here, Sharma said “The clippings and papers given to me by Ashok Gehlot were shared with the media on his direction. I came to know about the content in the pen drive after the news was flashed.”
Commenting on the matter, Gehlot said, “Who remains in staff, who goes in which party, when he leaves the party and when he joins the BJP should not be discussed but one needs to look at the truth.”
He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi loves Rajasthan so he has been camping in the state during these elections.
Gehlot added that the PM gets nervous very soon. When I was in charge of Gujarat, I saw him getting nervous very soon.
“During campaigning, he used to refer to me as Marwari and said that a Marwari has been roaming in Gujarat.
“Now should I say that I am a Marwari and a Gujarati is roaming here,” he questioned.
He also attacked the Election Commission and said that it has been sitting silent no matter what the PM says. “There should have been a ban on PM speech till June 4, ” said Gehlot.
When asked that his video was played during the press conference by Lokesh Sharma, he instead accused Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and said that he has not yet given a voice sample in the audio which went viral during the political crisis.
Gehlot was asked that his former OSD Lokesh Sharma said that he received no help despite being grilled for 10 to 12 hours during the investigation into the phone tapping. Gehlot replied that “This is election propaganda being adopted before elections and so we don’t care for it.”
When asked that the PM too said that he has a role in paper leaks, he said that the PM says anything without digging into the truth. “Paper leaks have been happening in UP, Gujarat and Bihar and Punjab. all records have been broken in UP and Gujarat in paper leaks,” he added.
If the PM is making such a statement, you can feel how nervous he is. This is just the second phase, there are seven phases in the election. So in seven elections, they (BJP) will make the PM say anything.
(IANS)
