A row erupted in the Rajasthan Assembly on Friday after a video went viral of state Cabinet Minister Kirodi Lal Meena alleging that his phone was being tapped by his own Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, The Indian Express reported.

The Opposition Congress demanded that Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma resign in view of the allegations, and also staged a walkout during the session. However, the state government described the allegation as baseless.

Hours earlier, a video of Meena making the allegations during an event at a temple in Jaipur on Thursday was circulated widely online, PTI reported. The date when the video was recorded was not clear.

“I got 50 fake station house officers arrested,” the Hindustan Times quoted Meena as saying in the video. “I raised the demand to cancel the 2021 sub-inspector recruitment exam conducted by the Staff Selection Commission over alleged paper leak but the government did not pay heed.”

Meena claimed that the BJP government acted like the previous Congress regime under then Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the state.

He added that he was “unfazed” even though the Criminal Investigation Department was tailing him and tapping his phone. “I don’t do anything illegal, so I am not scared, nor will I bend before anyone,” the minister said. “I will always speak the truth.”

Meena alleged that Gehlot’s government had also tapped his phone and had the Criminal Investigation Department tailing him.

“I outsmarted them,” he claimed. “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.”

During the proceedings in the Assembly on Friday, Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully said that BJP leaders were accusing their own party of tapping phones.

“Kirodi is directly accusing the chief minister of Rajasthan,” The Indian Express quoted Jully as saying in the Assembly. “The chief minister should resign.”

Subsequently, Congress legislators gathered in the well of the Assembly and began shouting slogans demanding Sharma’s resignation, PTI reported. The MLAs then walked out of the Assembly and shouted slogans outside.

Proceedings during the session were adjourned thrice due to the chaos, The Indian Express reported.

At 4 pm, Sharma refuted the allegations in the Assembly. He made a special mention of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara, and said he “should not forget the Birla Auditorium incident” from the Congress’ tenure, referring to allegations of corruption in the state’s teacher transfer system.

Dotasra held the education portfolio at the time.

Outside the Assembly, Jully told reporters that the Congress would not let proceedings continue till the chief minister provided an answer about the phone-tapping allegations in the Assembly, PTI reported.

“Do you think that any Cabinet minister of the government is doing phone tapping?” he asked. “The Home Department is with the chief minister and this allegation is on the chief minister.”