'Panicked' Gehlot misused CBI against Kataria: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party today alleged that the Cenhtral Bureau of Investigation action against its leader Gulab Chand Kataria is nothing but a "conspiracy of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot", who is "panicked" seeing the massive support the party is getting in poll-bound Rajasthan.

State vice president Omkar Singh Lakhawat, after a meeting of party cadres in Jodhpur to discuss modalities of the bandh called in protest, said that the BJP will reach out to the masses to tell them about the conspiracy. Kataria, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, has been booked for murder charges in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

The BJP has called for a state-wide bandh on May 18 in protest against the move. "Everybody can vow beyond any doubt that Kataria is a person and politician of very high integrity, honesty and dignity. He has been falsely framed by the CBI on unsubstantiated allegations," Lakhawat said.

He claimed the chargesheet was filed at the instance of Gehlot, who was panicked following tremendous response to the 'Suraj Sankalp Yatra' of BJP in Mewar region. "Congress has 22 MLAs from this region which is their highest number in any region (of the state). The huge turnout of people in BJP's yatra has made him skeptical about their chances in the coming assembly elections," he said.

Lakhawat said the BJP leaders will also court arrest as a mark of protest.

"We have trust in the judicial system and we are sure that Kataria will come out clean in this case," he said. Asserting that their 'Suraj Sankalp Yatra' will continue despite agitations, Lakhawat said the campaign would be used as a platform to "expose the vandetta politics played by Gehlot".