Was Phone Tapping Done?, BJP's Sambit Patra Demands CBI Probe

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday, July 18 demanded a CBI probe asking if the Congress government in Rajasthan resorted to "unconstitutional" methods to tap phones of politicians. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra called it a "saga of illegalities and concocted lies".

The Congress had on Friday cited some audio clips to accuse some saffron party leaders, including Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and rebel Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, of conspiring to topple the Ashok Gehlot government in the state.

Patra said senior Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Gehlot, have been claiming that these audio clips are authentic even though the FIR registered by police does not say so.

"These are serious questions that we want to ask the Congress high command and Ashok Gehlot. Was phone taping done? Assuming that you've taped phones, was the SOP followed? Did the Congress government in Rajasthan use unconstitutional ways to save themselves when they found themselves cornered?" Patra asked at a press conference, as reported by a daily.

People of Rajasthan want to know whether their privacy has been compromised, he said, asking if phones of people related to politics are being tapped?, Patra added.

 Shekhawat had rejected the Congress's allegation based on some audio clips that he was part of a conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, saying his voice is not in those recordings and that he was ready to face any probe.

"This is not my voice.... Let there be an investigation. I am ready to face any probe," the senior BJP leader from the state told reporters here after the Congress demanded his arrest.       

Later he also tweeted a Sanskrit saying that means "where there is dharma (righteousness), there is victory".