Phone-tapping case: Congress workers protest Delhi Police summons to Mahesh Joshi

Congress workers here protested the Delhi Police summons in a phone-tapping case to the party’s chief whip in the Rajasthan Assembly, Mahesh Joshi.

The Delhi Police had asked the Congress leader to appear before it on June 24 for questioning in the case lodged on a complaint by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is also the BJP MP from Jodhpur.

Joshi had refused to appear before police.

The phone-tapping controversy had erupted in July last year in Rajasthan. Audio clips of alleged telephonic conversations between Shekhawat and Congress leaders surfaced amidst a rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot by his then deputy Sachin Pilot and 18 party MLAs supporting him.

Also read: Rajasthan Congress chief whip calls Gajendra Singh Shekhawat a 'fugitive', draws sharp reaction from BJP

Congress leaders backing Gehlot had alleged that BJP leaders were indulging in horse-trading to topple the state government.

Congress workers from the Hawamahal constituency assembled at Badi Chaupad and raised slogans against Shekhawat. They waved posters with slogans against Shekhawat and called him a “fugitive”.

“Shekhawat should apologise from Mahesh Joshi. He should also come to Jaipur to give voice samples to the Anti-Corruption Bureau,” a local Congress worker said, in an apparent reference to the telephonic conversations allegedly aimed at toppling the state government last year.

They made a human chain and protested for nearly two hours.