BRS makes light of phone tapping issue; warns Congress of taking legal recourse

BRS makes light of phone tapping issue; warns Congress of taking legal recourse

HYDERABAD

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has accused the Congress government of selectively leaking information on the alleged phone tapping issue and trying to drag party leaders into the issue.

At a press conference here on Wednesday, former Minister S. Niranjan Reddy wondered how the investigating officials can go out of way to link the role of former BRS leaders in the tapping issue. He said phone tapping, if at all it has taken place, might have been done as part of the system.

“Mischievously leaking information and going to the extent of concluding the alleged role of certain politician is criminal conduct,” Mr. Reddy said adding that if the same campaign continues, the BRS leadership will take legal recourse.

Is it not a fact that even during the regime of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi, such tapping had taken place, the former minister questioned. “The present attempt is only to malign former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and other BRS leaders,” he said, adding that officials could have taken a decision to tap phones as per the provisions of the Telegraphic Act.

Mr. Reddy said it’s ridiculous that the Chief Minister, who was earlier caught red-handed while trying to buy an elected representative ahead of Council elections, is making value judgement on the phone tapping issue. He took serious exception to the remark made by Mr. Revanth Reddy that former Chief Minister should undergo lie detector test in connection with phone tapping issue.

“Imagine, if the previous BRS regime had also resorted to lie detector test on Mr. Revanth Reddy, when he was caught red handed,” he said. He charged that during the peak of separate statehood agitation, the phone of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao too was allegedly tapped.