Congress demands Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat's resignation over 'leaked audio tapes'

Congress on Sunday launched a scathing attack on BJP and demanded Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat's resignation over his 'involvement' in an alleged conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan.

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Ajay Maken, who was sent to Rajasthan to manage the crisis, said that a case has been registered in connection with the audiotapes, purportedly featuring Shekhawat, Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma and one Sanjay Jain, conversing about their plan to topple the Rajasthan government.

"Now that Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been named in the FIR & his voice recognised in the audiotape, why is holding the post of Union Minister? Congress demands that either he resigns or he is removed so that he can't influence the probe," Maken said in Jaipur.

The minister has rejected the Congress party's claim that it was him in the audio and said that he was ready for any probe. On this, Maken said that if he is saying it's not him in the leaked audio than why is he not giving his voice samples to the SOG.

"If Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is claiming that it is not his voice and the reference in the audio clip is of some other Gajendra Singh, then why is he afraid of giving voice samples?” the Congress leader asked.

The Congress has alleged that Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat 'conspired to topple the elected Rajasthan government' and released a few audio clips. The BJP denied the charges but accused the Ashok Gehlot government of phone-tapping and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter.