Rajasthan political crisis | BJP has openly admitted to murdering democracy, says Congress

“The BJP used Manohar Lal Khattar government to thwart an ongoing investigation.” Mr. Khera said.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera during a press conference in New Delhi on July 18, 2020. Twitter/@INCIndia

Hours after the BJP demanded a CBI enquiry into alleged phone tapping of Rajasthan legislators , the Congress said the BJP had admitted, in front of the entire nation, of its role in the ‘conspiracy’ to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said in an online press conference that BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had openly admitted to his party’s part in “murdering democracy” in Rajasthan. “Their only grievance is that when they were murdering democracy why were they getting recorded. This is like a murderer accusing the witness who reported him for violating his privacy while he was committing the crime,” Mr. Khera said.

The Congress evaded all questions on alleged phone tapping or revealing which agency in the State carried it out and under whose directions. 

According to sources, the party’s Rajasthan unit will come out with a statement on the issue later. 

Mr. Khera said that for the first time in history, the Haryana police actively blocked their Rajasthan Police counterparts and surreptitiously allowed the MLAs to escape through the back door. “The BJP openly misused official machinery of the Manohar Lal Khattar government to thwart an ongoing investigation,” he alleged. 

Mr. Khera said rebel leader Sachin Pilot and the MLAs supporting him might be taken to Karnataka from Manesar. “On the one hand, celebrated lawyers of the BJP are trying to prove that Mr. Pilot and others are part of the Congress. If you are in the Congress, why are you in custody of a BJP-ruled State,” he asked.

Mayawati’s comment

 Reacting to BSP president Mayawati’s tweets recommending President’s rule in the State owing to the political upheaval, Mr Khera said, “I don’t think we should discuss and comment on helplessness of a leader, she has her own reasons, fears, compulsions that force her to come out with comments that help the BJP.”

Ms Mayawati said in tweets in Hindi that the Gehlot government was the first one to misuse the anti-defection law when it broke the BSP’s Rajasthan unit, absorbing all the legislators who contested on the BSP ticket into the Congress. She added that by tapping the phones of lawmakers, the Gehlot government had done another “illegal and unconstitutional” work.