'MPs And MLAs Phones Are Never....': Ashok Gehlot Refutes Ex-OSD's Mobile Tapping Charges

OSD to former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Lokesh Sharma had alleged that the ex-CM tapped the phones of his party leaders to "topple" his government in 2020.

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday refuted the allegations of phone tapping leveled by his former officer on Special Duty (OSD), Lokesh Kumar. The former OSD held a press conference on Wednesday where he claimed that during Gehlot's government in Rajasthan, he had put the mobile phones of several leaders of the Congress party on surveillance to "topple" his government in 2020. 

"It is not an issue. Be it any party's government in Rajasthan, MLAs' and MPs' phones are never tapped," Gehlot said on Friday. 

"I think even the BJP doesn't do it...All I would like to say is that no conspiracy happened at our time, and no phones were tapped; it can't be done," he added. 

Speaking to reporters, Sharma that a clip of an alleged telephone conversation between Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and some Congress leaders on "toppling" the state's Congress government in 2020 was given to him by Gehlot.

Earlier, the former OSD had claimed that he had got three clips from social media and forwarded them to news organisations.  

PM Modi 'Deliberately Dragging' Mangalsutra Issue

Gehlot also charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'mangalsutra' remark saying that the latter has been "deliberately dragging" the issue. In a poll rally last week in Rajasthan's Banswara, Modi said the Congress manifesto pledges that if they come to power, "everyone's property will be surveyed, it will calculate gold belonging to mothers and sisters and then redistribute it" among Muslims, whom he referred to as "infiltrators". They "won't even spare your mangalsutra," he had added.

"It is just sad that where is democracy heading? What the Prime Minister has said...he analysed and he was mocked...I don't want to get into what he said about 'mangalsutra', election has to be fought on the basis of development," Gehlot said. 

"He is deliberately dragging it to 'mangalsutra'. What has that to do with Manifesto?...With the kind of language he is using, I think for the first time, the credibility of the Prime Minister has suffered a blow," he added. 

"The situation in elections is so bad that two CMs are in jail. Congress party's bank accounts have been frozen. UN is speaking about us. US and Germany are speaking about the country...," said the former Rajasthan CM.