Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday seized upon Lokesh Sharma’s allegations against former chief minister Ashok Gehlot over the paper leak cases in Rajasthan to attack the Congress and said there can be no “bigger betrayal” of the youth than this.
Sharma, the ex-OSD of Gehlot, on Wednesday alleged that the Gehlot government was involved in the Rajasthan Teacher Eligibility Test (REET) paper leak case.
Addressing an election rally in Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Modi said, “A gentleman who was close to the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot made a shocking revelation yesterday.”
Referring to Sharma, Modi said, “He revealed that the Gehlot government itself was involved in the paper leak. There can be no bigger sin than this, no bigger betrayal than this of the youth of my country.”
At a press conference in Jaipur, Sharma had also accused Gehlot of hatching a conspiracy to tarnish the image of his then deputy Sachin Pilot and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, keeping phones of Pilot and other Congress leaders on surveillance and keeping the party high command in the dark.
Reacting to Sharma’s allegations, Gehlot said on Thursday that he was not aware of the charges levelled by his ex-OSD. “I am not aware of it…one should not worry about who says what in the present environment of the country,” he told reporters in Jodhpur.
On Modi’s remark, he said that the PM had made an issue of ’red diary’ during the assembly elections last year and now, in the same manner, the issue (his alleged involvement in paper leak) has been made. “The PM is now quoting him (Lokesh Sharma). I do not want to make any comment about the PM, he should think that he is the Prime Minister of the country and not of BJP alone,” Gehlot said.
Former Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha had in July last year claimed to be in the possession of a ’red diary’ allegedly having details of irregular financial transactions of Gehlot.
The BJP had made it an issue during the assembly elections. Meanwhile, reacting to the revelation made by Sharma, Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma said that people would give a reply to the Congress.
“I do not want to say more on what the ex-OSD of Gehlot said yesterday…that is in front of all. But I want to say that people would like to give answers to corruption by the Congress and betrayal with the youth,” Sharma told reporters at the BJP office in Jaipur. BJP’s Lok Sabha election in-charge for Rajasthan Vinay Sahastrabuddhe said that the sins committed by the Congress are now coming in front of the people.
“Now people got to know that they had given power to those having such a criminal mindset,” he told reporters. Former leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore also hit out at Gehlot saying that the allegations made by Sharma have exposed the face of the “pseudo Gandhi” of Marwar.
“This was the first incident in the history of Rajasthan politics when the head of a government, in order to save his chair, ignored all the rules and got the phones of public representatives illegally tapped,” he said.
Rathore said that Gehlot, who talks about the Constitution, himself misused his power to attack the rights of the opposition. However, former minister Pratap Singh Khachariawas defended Gehlot and said that Sharma was playing in the hands of the BJP and his allegation has no substance.
“Ashok Gehlot does not need a certificate from a person like Lokesh Sharma who is playing in the hands of the BJP. If BJP wants to gain mileage in the elections with the help of such people, it makes it clear that it is losing elections,” he said.
“He (Sharma) should have gone to the police or other investigating agencies instead of talking to the media on this issue,” Khachariawas said.
The phone-tapping controversy erupted during the political crisis in Rajasthan in July 2020 when Gehlot was the CM. Audio clips of alleged telephonic conversations between Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Congress leaders surfaced amidst a rebellion against Gehlot by Pilot and 18 party MLAs supporting him.
It was alleged that Sharma circulated audio clips purportedly having conversation about the conspiracy to topple the Congress government. On Wednesday, Sharma alleged that the clips were provided to him by Gehlot himself in a pen drive for circulating them to the media.
The Delhi Police had registered an FIR against Sharma in March 2021 on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telephonic conversations on a complaint by Shekhawat.
Sharma approached the Delhi High Court to quash the FIR. In June 2021, the high court granted an interim stay on coercive action against him.
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