JOIN USMaharashtra Congress President Nana Patole demands probe into phone-tapping
A new political controversy erupted in Maharashtra with state Congress President Nana Patole demanding a high-level probe into the alleged phone-tapping on him by the erstwhile BJP-led government headed by Devendra Fadnavis.
A private Marathi news channel report claimed that his phone was being tapped during 2016-2017.
Patole urged the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to conduct a high-level probe into the matter.
“As per the TV reports, my number was falsely given as belonging to some Amjad Khan, ostensibly to link me with some drugs trafficking… Besides, the phones of several senior leaders of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena and even BJP, plus IAS and IPS officers were also being tapped similarly,” Patole said.
Patole, a former Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker, said that this is a reprehensible and despicable act in an attempt to link him with drug trafficking.
“The phone was tapped by showing fake names and addresses. Who tapped these phones and who gave them permission? What was the purpose of tapping the phone? It is a crime to keep an eye on a person by tapping the phone and it is a violation of individual freedom and the government should investigate it,” he said.
Nana or Nana Bhau, as he is popularly known, hails from the Kunbi Maratha community.
In fact, a three-term Congress MLA, he resigned in 2014 and joined BJP to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Bhandara-Gondiya and defeated Praful Patel, the lieutenant of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.
But in 2017, he raised a banner of revolt against Prime Minister Narendra Modi – the first one to do so - and resigned his seat to re-join Congress. He lost the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 from Nagpur against BJP stalwart Nitin Gadkari but won the Sakoli seat and entered the Vidhan Sabha again to become the Speaker, but this year he resigned to take over as MPCC chief.