Hours after a complaint was filed against Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat for conspiring to pull down its government in Rajasthan, a complaint has been filed against Congress leaders by a BJP leader for making false accusations against the union minister.
According to reports, BJP leader Laxmikant Bhardwaj has registered a complaint against Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Govind Singh Dotasra for levelling allegations against Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and linking him with an alleged audio clip, in which a conspiracy was allegedly hatched to topple the elected government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan.
#RajasthanPoliticalCrisis: BJP’s Laxmikant Bhardwaj has filed a complaint against Congress leaders Mahesh Joshi, Randeep Surjewala, and others, at Ashok Nagar Police Station, over a manufactured audio clip and false statements by Congress. pic.twitter.com/MOEthLTIrI
— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2020
On Friday, the Congress party citing a ‘viral’ audio recording, had claimed that there was an ongoing conspiracy to ‘buy’ Congress MLAs. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had alleged that rebel Congress leader Bhanwar Lal, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and another BJP leader Sanjay Jain were talking about bringing the Gehlot government down.
On the basis of some ‘leaked’ and ‘viral’ audio clips, Surjewala had claimed that Shekhawat was plotting with some Congress MLAs to get them to the BJP side. Later, two FIRs were filed against the BJP leaders after Congress came out with the allegations.
Conspiracy to blame BJP was hatched in CM’s residence: BJP leader about allegations by Congress leaders in Rajasthan
In the complaint letter written to the SHO of Ashok Nagar police station, BJP Rajasthan spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj said that Congress leaders Mahesh Joshi, Randeep Surjewala, and other accused have regularly been giving false and inflammatory statements against the BJP to criminally damage its reputation so that the blame for the current sorry state of affairs of the Congress can be pinned on the BJP.
With the ill-intention of damaging the BJP’s reputation, a conspiracy was formed at the Chief Minister’s residence situated at 8 Civil lines, the complaint read.
“The fake voices of people were falsely linked to the reputed leaders from the BJP and a fake phone conversation was created through which the false narrative of crores of rupees being offered to buy off Congress MLAs was created. The accused involved in this conspiracy have severely misused their position and power and the whole crime has been conducted by one named Lokesh Sharma, who calls himself an OSD of the Chief Minister,” the letter further said.
The complaint letter further said that Lokesh Sharma, who claims to be an OSD to Chief Minister Gehlot, had “released three audio tapes to media workers on July 16, 2020, somewhere around 8:25 pm through Whatsapp so that the defamatory material can be circulated on a large scale to fulfil the criminal intent.”
The BJP leader also said that a news report in the Jaipur edition of a leading Hindi daily, published on July 17, 2020, had conveyed that the audiotape was released by Sharma.
He further said that in a press conference held on Friday Congress leaders Surjewala and Dotasra read out the conversation in the audio tapes publically and “using them as a basis accused the BJP of throttling democracy, sabotaging the mandate, and toppling the government.”
Bhardwaj also alleged that hateful and insulting comments are being made on the BJP and its supporters, and “on the basis of this the Special Operation Group (SOG) has filed fake lawsuits under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code and is also threatening BJP leaders of the arrest.”
The audio recordings
A media report had claimed earlier that 3 audio recordings, allegedly phone conversations between Sanjay Jain and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat where they were reportedly claiming that the “deal” for 30 MLAs is already done and was finalised in Delhi.
The reports, without confirming the authenticity or date of recording of the audios, had stated that the said audios, two in Rajasthani and one in Hindi and English. In the said audios, one person is reportedly heard saying that 30 Congress MLAs will be ‘bought’ soon. The conversation also hints that some of their associates were already in Delhi.
In the audio, the person claiming to be Gajendra Singh says that no one can wait for 8-10 days. The audio ‘talk’ also allegedly claims that the ‘associates’ in Delhi have already taken the first instalment of the money.
