×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Rajnath rejects probe into bugging

Last Updated 30 July 2014, 20:49 IST

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the media reports on bugging devices being found at Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari’s home were completely baseless and no inquiry was needed.  

Singh made the statement in the Lok Sabha after the Congress MPs created a ruckus in the House and demanded a clarification from the government on the media reports. He made a similar statement in the Rajya Sabha too.

“I want to make it clear that whatever media has reported (on the discovery of a high power listening device in the bedroom of Gadkari) is completely baseless. There is no truth in these reports and hence the question of enquiring into the reports does not rise at all,” the minister said. He also added that Gadkari himself had clarified that the media reports on his bedroom being bugged had been completely baseless.

The Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha witnessed uproar over the issue during the Question Hour and both the Houses had to be adjourned.

After the Lok Sabha reassembled, Congress MPs led by the party’s Chief Whip Jyotiraditya Scindia rose to demand that they should be allowed to raise the issue in the House.

Some of the opposition party’s MPs also came near the podium of Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who later allowed the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, to speak.“We want to know how many ministers have been put on surveillance. How many of the ministers’ residences have been found bugged?” asked Kharge.

He quoted a deputy inspector general of police of Gujarat to allege that 29,000 people had been put under surveillance in the State. 

“The prime minister (Narendra Modi) himself should make a statement as it (surveillance) had earlier happened in his state,” said the veteran Congress MP.

In the Rajya Sabha, opposition members disrupted Question Hour and forced adjournments before lunch over the issue.

Congress took the lead and its Chief Whip Satyabrat Chaturvedi raised the issue as soon as the House met on Wednesday. He demanded suspension of Question Hour to discuss the issue. The party members demanded an independent probe.

Deputy Leader of Opposition Anand Sharma said, “Here, it is bugging of phones of seven ministers. We do not know how many telephones have been bugged.” He recalled that the House had discussed the issue of telephone records of then Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley.

Chairman Hamid Ansari rejected the demand. Jaitley dismissed the issue and termed it as “fiction”. He assured that Home Minister Rajnath Singh will make a statement dismissing the report of bugging. However, Congress members including Chaturvedi, Madhusudan Mistry and JDU member KC Tyagi were relentless and wanted a discussion on the issue. The chair rejected it and the din in the House forced him to adjourn it twice.

During Zero Hour, the situation remained the same and members wanted a discussion which was rejected by Deputy Chairman P J Kurien. The House was adjourned for 15 minutes and then till lunch.  

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 30 July 2014, 20:49 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT