Remove Shekhawat from Cabinet: Congress

Jaipur: The Congress on Sunday upped the ante on Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat's alleged role in the attempts to topple the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan and demanded his resignation or removal from the Union Cabinet.

Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken put forth pointed questions to the BJP and asked why Shekhawat was still a Union Minister and "resisting" to come forward to give his voice sample after his name cropped up in the audio clippings related to horse-trading of MLAs in the desert state.

"Isn't it the moral duty of the Prime Minister to divest Shekhawat of his portfolio so that he doesn't interfere in the fair investigation in this case? Also, why is he shying from giving a voice sample despite registration of a case against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act?" Maken said.

The former Delhi PCC chief also asked why the Haryana government and Delhi Police were "stopping" Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG) team from collecting voice samples of Congress MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh who belong to the Sachin Pilot camp.

"If they are innocent, they too should have no issues in giving their voice samples," he said.

"Why is the BJP coming into the picture and threatening a CBI probe and also orchestrating ED and IT raids in the state? This proves their nexus."

Maken also asked why the BJP was demanding a CBI probe into alleged phone-tapping after his party released the audio clips.