Hyderabad: Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy alleged on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narender Modi, home minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had hurt peoples’ privacy by their acts of snooping on politicians and others.
The TRS government was involved in snooping in 2015 when it tapped the phones of elected representatives and a neighbouring state Chief Minister and the case is in the High Court, he said.
The BJP-led NDA government allegedly snooped on politicians, journalists, businessmen and others by using Israel spyware, he said.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, the MP said the Congress will conduct a Chalo Raj Bhavan programme in Hyderabad on July 22. The Centre had tapped the phone of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his office staff, he alleged by quoting a report.
“The spyware was meant to track the movement of enemy countries, terrorists and anti-social elements, but the BJP government used it for spying on its political opponents, he alleged.
He said a Joint Parliamentary Committee should be constituted to probe the snooping charges. A Supreme Court judge should be appointed for an independent probe. For destroying the right to privacy of the people, sedition cases should be registered against Modi, Amit Shah and Chandrashekar Rao, he demanded.
Revanth Reddy pointed out that Union minister Kishan Reddy had already alleged that the TRS government was tapping his phones. “WhatsApp had also alerted India in 2019 over alleged snooping by Israel spyware. Former Union minister Ravishankar Prasad had admitted that 121 persons had been targeted in the country. The BJP leaders should tender an apology to the nation for their undemocratic act of snooping,” he said.
The state Congress chief alleged that Intelligence IG Prabhakar Rao was maintaining a “private army with Israel spyware” in Telangana to tap the phones of Opposition leaders and other influential sections. “By engaging his relatives, who retired as police officers, Prabhakar Rao is snooping on politicians and others”, he alleged.
“We will complain to the Union home ministry against Prabhakar Rao’s continuation as chief of Intelligence and SIB after his retirement”, Reddy said.
