By The Hindu Bureau

Copyright thehindu

Veteran Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan of exerting pressure on investigating agencies to “manipulate facts” and file closure reports in politically sensitive cases, leaving courts with no option but to accept them.

“After the change of government, probe agencies have been pressurised to close the cases, first in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam, and later in other matters,” Mr. Gehlot said, reacting to the High Court’s acceptance of a closure report filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a case alleging a conspiracy to topple his government in 2020.

The former Chief Minister said there was “no doubt” that attempts similar to those in Madhya Pradesh a month earlier were made in Rajasthan to pull down the Congress government in July 2020. “With the blessings of the Congress leadership and the people, that attempt failed and our government lasted five years,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

While the Special Operations Group of Rajasthan police filed a final report in the High Court in September 2024 in the Sanjivani case, in which Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was an accused, the ACB submitted a closure report in the government-toppling case on August 26, which was accepted by the High Court on Monday.

Mr. Gehlot alleged that Mr. Shekhawat, who was involved in the conspiracy, could not be absolved of the “sin of attempting to topple a democratically elected government”. He said the Union Minister and others were left “nursing their wounds” after the failed bid.

“If Mr. Shekhawat is so honest, he should say why he has still not given his voice samples to aid investigation into the audio clips on horse-trading of legislators. Why does he repeatedly resist giving his voice samples in the [alleged middleman] Sanjay Jain’s case? If he is truly honest, let him give his voice sample once before the court and prove it,” Mr. Gehlot said.

Recalling the events of July–August 2020, when his government faced the rebellion led by then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, Mr. Gehlot said: “The memories of incidents such as the claims of withdrawal of support by 30 MLAs, taking 20 MLAs to Manesar, meetings with Amit Shah, Dharmendra Pradhan and Zafar Islam, raids by ED, IT Office and CBI on the Congress leaders, bribery of legislators, and abrupt cases against BSP MLAs who joined Congress are still fresh in the minds of people.”

He added that Rashtriya Loktantrik Party president and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal had recently acknowledged helping the BJP during the political crisis.

Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Pilot have since reconciled, with the former attending the 25th death anniversary of Mr. Pilot’s father, Rajesh Pilot, in Dausa in June this year.

Responding to Mr. Gehlot’s remarks, Mr. Shekhawat said in Jodhpur on Tuesday that the Congress government had “slapped false sedition charges on innocent people because of its internal strife and a sense of revenge,” while truth had prevailed with the High Court’s acceptance of the closure report. He alleged that the Congress had misused investigating agencies.

On Wednesday, the Union Minister replied to Mr. Gehlot’s fresh charge with an Urdu couplet by poet Hasrat Mohani: “Haqeeqat Khul Gai Hasrat …” (The truth of your love has been revealed. You miss me now even more than before).

The rebellion of Mr. Pilot and 18 Congress MLAs in July 2020 had triggered a month-long political crisis that threatened the stability of the 20-month-old Congress government. Mr. Gehlot had blamed the BJP for attempting to topple his government by alluring legislators.

The crisis ended after the Congress leadership removed Mr. Pilot as both Deputy CM and State Congress chief, accusing him of colluding with the BJP. The Congress later lost the 2023 Assembly election, paving the way for the BJP’s return to power.