BJP sends show cause to Kirodi Meena over his phone-tapping allegation

Jaipur: The BJP's Rajasthan unit president Madan Rathore has sent a show cause to Cabinet minister Kirodi Lal Meena for "tarnishing" the state government's reputation by alleging in a public meeting recently that his phone was being tapped, party leaders said on Monday.

Meena, however, claimed ignorance about it and while asserting that he was a "disciplined soldier" of the party said he would send his reply within the stipulated time once he received the notice.

After Meena made the phone-tapping claim, the opposition Congress had raised the issue in the Rajasthan Assembly, causing embarrassment to the BJP government.

The Congress had demanded Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma's resignation over the allegation and Leader of the Opposition Tika Ram Jully did not even give a speech on the Governor's address in protest. Congress MLAs kept raising slogans during the chief minister's speech.

In the show cause notice, the BJP said Meena's statement tarnished the government's reputation.

"You are a member of the BJP and have been elected MLA from Sawai Madhopur region on the party ticket. You are also a minister in the Rajasthan government. Recently, you made available the news of your resignation from the Council of Ministers for publication in the newspaper. You also accused the BJP government of getting phone calls tapped by giving a public statement, which is untrue," the notice states.

It further said, "By giving a statement, you tarnished the reputation of the BJP majority government." The show cause notice, served under the directions of the party's national president, asked Meena to submit his reply within three days, BJP leaders said.

Meena, however, said, "I am not aware of the show cause notice. I am a disciplined soldier of the party. As soon as I receive the notice, I will send my reply to the party leadership within the stipulated time period." After the party's below-expectation result in the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan, Meena resigned from his ministerial post. He informed the media about his resignation during a religious programme on July 4 in Jaipur.

Meena had said that he had sent his resignation to the chief minister in June but he did not accept it. Meena continued to deal with departmental files as a minister, but he did not attend cabinet meetings.

Regarding his resignation, the BJP always maintained that he is its senior leader and is working in the government as a minister.