In a startling revelation, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's ex-OSD Lokesh Sharma on Wednesday said that that the purported audio clip of a phone conversation, involving Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and certain Congress figures discussing the ousting of the state's Congress government in 2020, was provided to him by Gehlot.
Sharma has alleged that Gehlot used to tap the phones of rebel Congress leaders, including Sachin Pilot.
He claimed that the audio clips of rebel Congress leaders and their phone calls provided to the news organizations were given to him by the former Rajasthan chief minster himself.
"Till today, I kept telling everyone that I received those audio clips from social media. But this is not the truth. On July 16, 2020, some audio clips went viral via the media because I shared them with the media using my phone number. In those audios, a conspiracy was being made to topple the government by poaching MLAs," Sharma said while addressing a press conference.
"On July 16, 2020, Ashok Gehlot came to Hotel Fairmont because all the rebel leaders at that time were kept in that hotel. One hour after after the CM left, his PSO Ramniwas called me up and asked me to come to the CM House as the CM wanted to meet me... As soon as I reached, the CM handed over a pen drive and a paper, which I circulated among the people through you. This paper allegedly contained a reference to a conversation between Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Late MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, and Sanjay Jain, this pen drive contained their audio," Sharma said
"I was asked to circulate the audio on social media. I did not receive these audio clips via social media, CM Ashok Gehlot handed them over to me in this pen drive and asked me to circulate them to the media," Sharma alleged.
Sharma further alleged that the then Rajasthan Chief Minister wanted to portary BJP's hand beind 'toppling' of Rajasthan Congress and hence Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was made to look as the main accused in the whole matter and it was alleged that BJP along with Sachin Pilot and other MLAs were attempting to topple the government.
"They wanted to prove that the BJP was behind all this, which was not the case. Then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot even said that no one was listening to them even when they wanted to tell their side of the story, so they all got together and reached the party's high command. But as soon as CM Ashok Gehlot got to know of this, he put everyone's phones on surveillance and was tracking them, including Sachin Pilot," Sharma said.
Earlier in December, Lokesh Sharma claimed that the Congress government in the state was monitoring the movements of fellow party leaders and this was the reason, Gehlot was able to save his party in the year 2020 in Rajasthan.
Speaking to ANI, Lokesh Sharma said, "During the political crisis in Rajasthan, when Sachin Pilot had gone to Manesar with 18 MLAs, it is natural that state government tracks the movement in such cases. So, the state government was keeping track of Sachin Pilot and the people he was meeting. Sachin Pilot was being monitored on where he was going, and who was he talking on to the phone so that corrective measures could be taken."
