Snoopgate: HDD defends his son, Cong wants probe

JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday defended his son, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy even as Congress leaders demanded a probe into the snooping scandal.

Kumaraswamy has been accused of ordering phone tapping to snoop on legislators, including Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah. Kumaraswamy has denied any role in the scandal.

Responding to BJP’s allegation that Kumaraswamy ordered snooping in order to save his government, Gowda said, “Don’t they have any other work? What have they (BJP) done? Forget snooping, they abducted people (poaching of MLAs). They are shameless.”

Gowda also said he knew much more about snooping. “I can speak a lot of such things...what’s happening in which state, what’s happening in the Centre, what happened under different chief ministers...” he said.

Siddaramaiah, reacting for the first time on the phone tapping row, sought a probe. “Phone tapping...I don’t know. Let it be investigated and then take action against the culprits.”

Former Home minister M B Patil of the Congress also demanded a probe. “I will write to the chief minister seeking a time-bound inquiry,” Patil said. “Some within the Home department told me (snooping) wasn’t true, but some also said it was necessary to find out the truth.”

In all this, no Congress leader has come to the defence of Kumaraswamy, who headed the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. “Well, why should we go out of way to defend him? After all, he said openly after the government fell that he didn’t have the freedom to work as the CM. This reflected poorly on our party. Well, if more than 300 people can be snooped upon, I’m sure there was enough freedom,” a Congress leader said.

Earlier in the day, BJP leader R Ashoka, who was formerly home minister, said he knew about the snooping six months ago. “Back then, people thought I was joking. It has come to light now because the phone of Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao was tapped,” he said.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday said he would discuss with the chief secretary and decide, when asked if he would order a probe into the scandal.