Jaipur, Aug. 8 -- Agriculture minister Kirodi Lal Meena on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party's high command had called him and warned after he met Independent candidate Naresh Meena in jail. "I am meeting anyone openly. I didn't hide anything. But I got a call from Delhi and was warned. They asked why am I meeting a person who is protesting against the government," Kirodi said while delivering a lecture in the Rajasthan University on the occasion of Birsa Munda Samman Samaroha. He further said: "I responded by saying that I had only met him as the government is planning to make him contest in the bypoll. Now, the party will again rebuke me for saying all these publicly." Independent candidate Naresh Meena had slapped an SDM on the day of voting in the bypoll to the Deoli-Uniara assembly constituency on November 13. He contested the bypoll as an Independent candidate. When the polling ended and the officials were leaving, Meena and his supporters allegedly tried to stop them. When the police intervened, they allegedly turned violent in which 26 policemen were injured. Several two-wheelers and four-wheelers, including police vehicles, were also torched in the Samravta village. On November 20, Kirodi met Naresh and others in a jail in Tonk where they are lodged. Later, Kirodi told reporters that some of the individuals who are under judicial custody said that police beat them. Commenting on the meeting, the minister on Thursday said: "It's in my DNA. Once, (former CM) Bhairon Singh Shekhawat also told me that I will always swim at the opposite direction of the stream like a fish." Kirodi Meena has been at the centre of controversy since the Lok Sabha election last year for his rapid statements embarrassing his own government in the political arena. His statement came days after he shared a stage with chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on August 4 in Sawai Madhopur that sparked a buzz about their political reconciliation. Reacting to the development, BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bharadwaj said: "Only Meena can say what Delhi leadership told him. We have no idea."...