Congress rolls back move on Snoopgate

Facing fire from allies, the Congress on Monday was forced to roll back its proposal to appoint a judge to probe the incident of snooping on a woman architect allegedly at the behest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The move comes a day after Congress leaders breathed fire on the issue and threatened to expose Modi who is considered to have an edge in the polls.

The controversy had fallen into oblivion after at least five retired Supreme Court judges refused to head the Commission of Inquiry (CoI), decision on which was taken by the Cabinet on December 26.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is learnt to have met President Pranab Mukherjee for advice in this regard. Mukherjee is understood to have advised the government against pursuing the matter in the last days of the UPA rule.

“You cannot ignore your allies,” a senior Congress leader said when asked about the Centre’s decision to drop the probe.

He admitted the party had goofed up by delaying the appointment of a judge to head the CoI. “There has been a delay. We should have named the judge by February,” the leader said. The controversy broke out after two web portals published transcripts of conversations between the then Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah and senior police officials on keeping a close watch on the young architect.