Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur quashed Pegasus snooping allegations and termed opposition claims baseless and devoid of facts.
CM Thakur, in a press statement, blamed the opposition for misleading the people of the country for political gains.
Raising doubts over the media reports about Pegasus issues, Jai Ram Thakur said
“it cannot be a mere coincidence that on July 18, just a day before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the media reports came out on the Pegasus issue.”
“The matter has been taken up with a well thought out strategy just ahead of the monsoon session as some people consider the country’s development a threat to themselves. While there is no single evidence in the media reports that the Government of India can be linked in this matter,” Jai Ram Thakur further added.
He said that NSO Group has issued a statement on the disclosures about its Pegasus software, making it clear that this report is full of misconceptions, there is no factual basis for the report and it is beyond the truth. According to the company, it appears that unidentified sources have provided false information.
Blaming Congress for indulging in nefarious activities like phone tapping and snooping into opposition members, Jai Ram Thakur said that during the tenure of the UPA government, many cases came to the fore when phones were tapped and as per the information received from RTI, more than 9000 phones and 500 e-mails were monitored every month during the Congress era.
The Chief Minister said “many Opposition leaders had also accused the UPA government of phone tapping. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also rejected the demand of JPC in this matter. Later he himself admitted that the phones of corporate people have been tapped. Not only this, BJP and Congress party’s own MLA has also recently accused the Congress government of Rajasthan of phone tapping.”
