Jaipur: Rajasthan cabinet minister Kirodi Lal Meena has alleged that he is under government surveillance for raising concerns about corruption in the system and criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not taking action against graft cases.
The BJP has refuted the allegations and called them “baseless.”
Meena accused government agencies of tapping his phone and spying on him.
“I got 50 fake station house officers (SHOs) arrested.I raised the demand to cancel the 2021 sub-inspector recruitment exam conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) over alleged paper leak, but the government did not pay heed. Instead, this (BJP) government acted like the previous Congress government,” Meena said while addressing a function at the Amagarh temple near Jaipur.
Meena said he remains “unfazed” even though the criminal investigation department (CID) is tailing him and tapping his phone. “I don’t do anything illegal, so I am not scared, nor will I bend before anyone. I will always speak the truth,” he added.
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“(Former chief minister Ashok) Gehlot’s government too had tapped my phone and put the CID after me, but I outsmarted them. I carried out agitations during the previous Congress regime against corruption, due to which we came to power. But now the BJP government is not addressing those issues,” Meena alleged.
Meena, who was made agriculture minister in the Bhajanlal Sharma-led cabinet, has been involved in a prolonged battle of words with the state government.
Meena has previously alleged corruption in the (BJP) government. In December last year, Meena claimed an “intelligence report” had falsely stated that he would disrupt the Rising Rajasthan Investment Summit in Jaipur from December 9 to 11, 2024.
In June last year, Meena tendered his resignation, stating that he had been unable to fulfil his promise to the Prime Minister to win seats in eastern Rajasthan in the Lok Sabha elections. His resignation was not accepted.
Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi said, “It was unfortunate that the government is not taking its own minister seriously. The government should clarify on the allegations made by Meena. He is a cabinet minister, and he has alleged corruption in several departments, some under the chief minister. It is for the government to come clean on the allegations.”
Rajasthan home minister Jawahar Singh Bedam, dismissed the allegations. “The Congress is misguiding people on baseless grounds. The state government has not tapped the phone of any MLA or minister. The allegations are baseless,” Bedam said.