JAIPUR: Firing a fresh salvo at outgoing chief minister
Ashok Gehlot
, his officer on special duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma on Wednesday claimed that he had not said “anything new” about the
Congress government
not returning to power. He claimed this was already said by Gehlot’s son,
Vaibhav Gehlot
, as mentioned in the purported “
red diary
” that he said contained the “black deeds” of the Congress government.
Sharma’s statement follows his allegation against Ashok Gehlot that the latter was responsible for the defeat of Congress in the Rajasthan assembly polls.
Sharma wrote in a post on X, “Ashok Gehlotji’s son Vaibhav Gehlot has already accepted what I said after the election results, according to this viral page of the so-called ‘red diary’ exposed before the elections by Rajendra Gudha, in which he (Vaibhav) said, ‘That is why Papa (Ashok Gehlot) is not able to form the government again and again… This time also, I can give you in writing that the government will lose badly, the reason for this is he. He gets surrounded by the officials in such a way that he dislikes political persons'”.
“If I said the same thing, why did it create so much ruckus…?? I have not said anything new,” added Sharma. Earlier, taking a swipe at Ashok Gehlot, Sharma had claimed that the former was “responsible” for Congress’s defeat in Rajasthan.
Sharma also claimed that the Congress government in the state was monitoring the movements of fellow party leader
Sachin Pilot
, adding that the latter’s phone was also being tapped when he was stationed at Manesar with 18 party MLAs in 2020.
He asserted that it was being done on the instructions of Ashok Gehlot to save the Congress government in the state.
“It was because of the monitoring that we could bring some people back. He (Pilot) was also being chased, and all his movements were tracked. I believe Sachin Pilot was aware that he was being monitored,” said Sharma.
These revelations on the phone tapping case could put Sharma in more trouble. He is already facing charges leading to an ongoing court case in the matter of phone tapping alleged by Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Sharma has so far been denying any knowledge of phone tapping, saying he only forwarded an audio to the media as OSD to the chief minister.
Congress was beaten by BJP in Rajasthan’s recent Assembly polls. BJP, which won 115 seats against 69 for Congress in the 200-member Assembly, is all set to form the government in the state.