BJP demands CBI probe into audio tapes released by Congress amid Rajasthan crisis

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday lashed out at the Congress and demanded to know if the phones of state leaders in Rajasthan are being tapped amid an alleged conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.

The party also demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the allegations made by the Congress in Rajasthan it has audio tapes to prove that the BJP was in collusion with rebel Congress leaders to bring down the Gehlot government.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had briefed the media on Friday about the existence of tapes where BJP leaders including Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat can be heard conspiring with rebel MLAs from the Sachin Pilot camp to topple the state government.

Surjewala’s allegations were refuted by the BJP as well as Shekhawat, who asserted that the voice on the purported tapes was not his.

Patra alleged that there is a conspiracy within the Congress party and the blame is being pinned on the BJP.

Rajasthan police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) on Friday registered two first information reports (FIRs) alleging a conspiracy to topple the Congress government in the state.

The FIRs came the party’s chief whip Mahesh Joshi lodged a complaint on Thursday night citing three audio tapes, purportedly of conversations detailing the plot.

The Congress also suspended Sharma and former tourism minister Vishvendra Singh from the party and sought an explanation about the tapes.

The FIR and the charges come in the middle of a raging political battle in the state between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot.