Jaipur, Feb 20 (PTI) The Rajasthan government on Thursday responded to the phone tapping allegations by cabinet minister Kirodi Lal Meena in the state Assembly, saying his phone was not tapped.

Minister of State (MoS) for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham said in the House that Meena himself has publicly denied that his phone was tapped. He assured the House that Meena's phone was not tapped by the present government.

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Leader of Opposition (LoP) Tikaram Jully said that if this is the case, the government should take action against Meena.

Later, the opposition Congress walked out of the House.

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BJP Rajasthan unit president Madan Rathore on February 10 sent a show cause to Meena for "tarnishing" the state government's reputation by alleging in a public meeting recently that his phone was being tapped.

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 Jully did not even deliver a speech on the Governor's address in protest. Congress MLAs kept raising slogans during the chief minister's speech.

A day after he issued a show cause notice to Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena over his phone tapping remarks, state BJP president Madan Rathore said it was an internal matter of the party and there should be no media trial on it.

He said the process of resolving the issue within the party is underway.

"This is not a matter for media trial. This is our party's internal matter. Whenever there is a need to question any family member, the party does it. It's a family matter and we will resolve it within the family," he told reporters while replying to queries on the issue.

Meena on February 12 said he had sent his response to the show cause notice sent by his party for alleging in a public meeting recently that his phone was being tapped by the state government.

While he did not disclose the contents of his reply, Meena acknowledged a "mistake" mentioned in the show cause notice sent on Monday.

"I have sent my reply for the mistake I made. I replied yesterday (Tuesday) itself. The mistake is mentioned in the show notice given by the party's state president," the agriculture minister told reporters.

Meena added that now it is not for him or any minister or the chief minister to speak on the matter. Only the party president can speak on it, he added.

As Jully was speaking in the Assembly on Thursday, Forest and Environment Minister Sanjay Sharma waved a placard that mentioned a phone tapping row that occurred during the previous Congress government. The entire opposition objected to it and Speaker Vasudev Devnani had to ask members to maintain the dignity of the House.

The Speaker had given a ruling on Wednesday which said the government would give a statement on the issue the next day.

"A few days ago, a statement from our minister Kirodi Lal Meena came to our notice through the media. In this, he has talked about his mobile phone being put on surveillance," he said.

He said the opposition demanded clarification from the government on this issue whereas Meena himself publicly denied this, Bedham said in the House.

The minister also said, "I would like to assure this House with full responsibility that Kirodi Lal Meena's phone has not been tapped by the present government."

He also informed the House about the legal procedure for intercepting phone tapping.

On this, the LoP expressed satisfaction with the minister's reply.

He said, "We are satisfied with your reply. The question is when your cabinet minister Meena has made allegations against you and you said the phone is not being tapped, so, will you take action against him or not?"

"I request that if the government has not tapped Kirodi Lal Meena's phone, then take action against Meena for making these allegations," Jully said.

He then announced the opposition's walkout on this issue.

When Jully was speaking, there was an uproar in the House and MLAs from both sides started shouting.

Speaker Devnani expressed displeasure at a minister for waving a placard in the House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel expressed regret for waving the placard.

Along with this, he said, "The Congress, which disrupted the proceedings of the House on the issue of phone tapping, is battling with internal conflicts and does not have any vision."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)