The political upheaval in Rajasthan has taken a new turn on Thursday as the Congress released three audio clips purported to be of “horse-trading” discussions, which it said, were being held between Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and an MLA of Sachin Pilot’s camp, who were coordinating via a Jaipur resident.

Earlier today, the Congress released what it claims are transcripts of alleged audio conversations between BJP and a rebel MLA.

Speaking to media, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the tapes contained conversations between Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, BJP leader Sanjay Jain and Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma, where they spoke about bribing MLAs and bringing down the Rajasthan government.

He further demanded the Rajasthan Government and Special Operations Group (SOG) to register an FIR and arrest the culprits as “plenty of evidence has surfaced now”.

“We also demand that Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma and BJP leader Sanjay Jain should also be booked. It should also be probed as to who arranged the ‘black money’ to bribe MLAs and who were given the bribe,” Surjewala added.

“The Modi government and BJP are conspiring to grab power instead of fighting the coronavirus pandemic,” Surjewala said while reading out transcripts of the alleged audio conversations.

The Congress leader further demanded that Sachin Pilot should come forward and make his stand public on the allegations of providing MLAs’ list to the BJP.

Meanwhile, the Congress has suspended MLAs Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh from primary membership of the party. The party has also issued show-cause notices to them.

Reacting to the allegations, Bhanwar Lal Sharma earlier today claimed that the audio clips that have gone viral are “fake”. “Officer on Special duty to CM, Lokesh Sharma is trying to pressure MLAs by getting fake audios made as the CM is in despair,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

A press note was also issued by the camp of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot late Thursday night claiming that the audio clips are of conversations between the BJP’s Shekhawat and Pilot loyalist Bhanwarlal Sharma.

Gehlot’s camp claimed that Shekhawat was in contact with the Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma through Jaipur resident Sanjay Jain.

The press note says that the audio is of Sharma’s updates on the progress in meeting the set target of bringing in 30 MLAs into their fold and the purported voice of Shekhawat, on the other side, says that this will bring in the Gehlot government on its knees.

The person, said to be Shekhawat as per the note, also says that Sharma and other MLAs should stay in the hotel for 8-10 days.

Another clip is purportedly of Sharma seeking assurances from Jain, who responds: “I assured you yesterday, again I assure you that your seniority will be taken care of”, as per the press note.

The purported audio clips came hours after the the Rajasthan High Court permitted former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, along with 18 other rebel Congress MLAs, to file an amended plea against the Speaker’s notice on their disqualification, and referred the matter to a division bench.

Pilot and his loyalists had challenged the constitutional validity of the Assembly Speaker CP joshi’s notice sent to them.

The order came in after senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the petitioner, sought the court’s permission to file an application for amendment. Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi also appeared for Pilot, while Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented the Ashok Gehlot government.

Rebel Congress leader Pilot and his 18 loyalist MLAs had moved the high court against Speaker CP Joshi’s disqualification notice on Thursday, alleging that he “was acting under Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s influence”.

However, the court had deferred the hearing for today as Pilot’s side sought permission to amend their plea.

The petition, filed by MLA PR Meena on behalf of the rebel MLAs who were slapped notice for not attending two meetings of the Congress Legislature Party called in a Jaipur hotel and the Chief Minister’s residence, said that “they fear the Speaker would act as per Gehlot’s instruction without giving us a fair hearing”.

It also questioned the validity of notice issued by the Speaker.

The Speaker late Tuesday issued show-cause notices to Pilot and the rebel MLAs for “anti-party activities”. It is learnt that the notices were issued for allegedly flouting the party whip and not attending Congress Legislative Party meetings called on Monday and Tuesday.

Pilot and his team’s petition in the court comes as the rebel leaders were asked by the party to respond by Friday.

After Sachin Pilot and the rebel MLAs gave the second CLP meeting a miss on Tuesday, the MLAs, who were reportedly present showing their support to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, had unanimously demanded that Pilot be removed from the party.

Following this, the Congress announced the removal of Sachin Pilot as the Deputy Chief Minister as well as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief.

Two other ministers, Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena, who joined him in his revolt, were also dropped from the Ashok Gehlot cabinet.

Now, with the political crisis reaching the court, it is highly unlikely for a patch up to be made between the former Deputy Chief Minister and the top leadership of the Congress party.

The party is now more keen to take back the MLAs who were siding with Pilot to weaken his plot of dislodging the state government.

Amidst the raging political crisis in Rajasthan and a catalogue of speculation, Sachin Pilot on Wednesday made it clear that he is not joining the BJP and is still a member of the Congress.

He also denied “hobnobbing” with the BJP to topple the Rajasthan government as claimed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

On July 12, the sulking leader had declared open rebellion against his party by claiming that he has the support of 30 MLAs.

The Congress in Rajasthan is witnessing a power tussle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, who is upset since he was denied the Chief Minister’s post after the December 2018 assembly elections.

The current crisis began on the night of July 10 when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the government.