Headlines
Congress demands PMO explain 'Snoopgate 2', BJP says non-issue
New Delhi/Hyderabad, March 15
The Congress on
Sunday demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister's Office on why
the police were seeking details about its vice president Rahul Gandhi
even as the BJP accused the opposition party of making an issue out of a
"routine" security-related inquiry.
The Congress was also set to raise the issue in parliament on Monday.
Terming
the incident "Snoopgate 2", Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the prime
minister needed to explain why the government needed details of a person
protected by the Special Protection Group (SPG).
"PMOIndia needs
to explain why it needs details of a person protected by the SPG. All
his movements are recorded by SPG," he tweeted.
"Police sought
telephone numbers, addresses of Rahul Gandhi's associates and friends.
Delhi Police need to clarify why this info was needed," he said.
Tharoor
said: "Original Snoopgate involved misuse of Gujarat government
machinery for surveillance of a woman. Snoopgate2 involves misuse of
police versus opponents?"
Delhi Police personnel visited Rahul
Gandhi's residence last week and also sought details about his height
and colour of eyes and hair.
Party spokesperson Anand Sharma said the party would raise the issue in parliament.
Addressing
reporters at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, he said the
Narendra Modi government "has much to answer when it comes to right of
privacy of citizens".
"They are now trying to do it everywhere
what was happening in one state. Both Modi and Amit Shah are now here.
It is not confined to one person. It is much deeper. The practice that
they had adopted in Gujarat, they want to carry it out now every where,"
he said.
Sharma, who has alleged in a newspaper interview that
phones of senior leaders are being "tapped" and that they are under
"surveillance", backed his statement, saying "letters are not sent for
phone tapping to political leaders, judges and others ... It can be
proved only if the prime minister, home minister give letters to
opposition leaders regarding their phone tapping".
The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress of trying to politicize the issues.
In
Hyderabad, union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said
Prime Minister Modi or Home Minister Rajnath Singh were in no way
involved in the police trying to find out details about Rahul Gandhi.
"According
to Delhi Police, there was a security-related check and inquiry at the
house of the Congress leader. Neither the prime minister nor home
minister or government are in any way involved in this routine check and
security drill by the security apparatus of Delhi Police," Naidu told
reporters.
He also claimed that the same thing happened to him when he was in the opposition.
"They
came and gave a questionnaire and asked me to sign that also. When I
became minister, there was some inquiry. They said it is a routine check
and we have to do it because we are giving you Z-plus security. They
asked who are frequent visitors; any suspicion about anybody who is
roaming around your house; do you notice anybody who is not familiar,"
he said.
The minister said same questions were put to senior
parliamentarian L.K. Advani, BJP president Amit Shah and even Prime
Minister Modi earlier.
"We should not make issues out of
non-issues and create controversies simply because some questioning has
been done," Naidu said.
During Congress regime, there used to be surveillance on telephones and lots of such complaints were received, he alleged.
On
Saturday, the Congress had condemned Delhi Police's "unnecessary and
weird enquiries" about Rahul Gandhi and termed it "political espionage".
"This
kind of political espionage, snooping, surveillance and intrusion in
political opponent's life may be Gujarat model but not Indian model,"
party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, referring to Modi's oft-quoted
Gujarat model of development.