Did Ashok Gehlot track Sachin Pilot's phone during the 2020 rebellion in Rajasthan?

Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthan’s outgoing chief minister, had carried out a surveillance on Sachin Pilot when he along with his loyalist MLAs had rebelled in 2020, are the latest claims circulating. Pilot’s phone was also being tapped when he was stationed at Manesar with 18 party MLAs that year. Gehlot has closely monitored his meetings along with the actions of Pilot’s supporters. These were the claims made by Gehlot’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma. While there was no immediate reaction from Congress leaders Gehlot and Pilot, or their aides, on the allegations, the question remains: Are the allegations true? Who is Lokesh Sharma, and what’s behind his comments? Here’s a closer look. The allegations The political crisis in Rajasthan unfolded when Sachin Pilot , along with 18 MLAs, went to Manesar, bringing the government to the verge of collapse. In such situations, it is natural for the government to implement surveillance measures to monitor the people the person in question is meeting," Lokesh Sharma told news agency ANI. “Everyone is monitored — where these individuals go, whom they meet, and whom they speak with,” Sharma added. He claimed that the monitoring was happening from before the rebellion as there was some idea that such a thing could happen. [caption id=“attachment_13470962” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Sharma claimed that elections could have been fought better and the main reason for defeat was that ticket distribution was not done properly. PTI[/caption] The main reason, he cited, behind such actions was to be prepared with corrective measures to be taken if he moved ahead with his rebellion. He added that it was due to this monitoring that we were able to bring some people back. Denied ticket, alleges leadership mismanagement for party’s defeat Sharma, who was denied a ticket to contest the Rajasthan Assembly polls and has been criticising Gehlot for the party’s defeat in the elections, also said if the incidents of September last year, when a legislature party meeting was not allowed to take place by Gehlot loyalists, had not happened and the Congress observers had carried out the agenda for which they had come, the picture in Rajasthan would have been different. The Congress leadership wanted to effect a leadership change and bring in Pilot as the chief minister. He said the differences between Gehlot and Pilot “harmed” the party’s prospects. Sharma claimed that elections could have been fought better and the main reason for defeat was that ticket distribution was not done properly. “There was no-anti incumbency against the government but people did not want to see many of the MLAs return as their representatives. Such reports were communicated to the chief minister. These were not just my reports but the AICC survey, and other reports were that sitting MLAs’ tickets should be cut but it was not done,” Sharma claimed. Also Read: Will it be Vasundhara Raje again? Who will be Rajasthan's next CM? Asked why action had not been taken on the reports, he said, “You can say it was his (Gehlot’s) stubbornness. He probably felt it was his moral duty towards those who had helped him save his government.” Sharma denied that he was making such allegations as he was denied a ticket. He said it is up to the party to decide on his ticket which he was demanding as a party worker. “I am saying so now as I want that corrective measures are taken as Lok Sabha polls are round the corner and it is important to set things right,” he said. On the day the Congress lost in Rajasthan, Sharma had blamed Gehlot for the defeat in the Assembly polls and said that his experience, magic and schemes could not bring the Congress back to power in the state. On Monday, replying to a question on an earlier statement of Sharma, Pilot had said, “I have seen the statement. It is strange. Because he was OSD to the chief minister, that’s why it is a matter of concern. I believe the party will look into why he said so. And how much truth it holds.” With inputs from PTI