Congress demands probe into 'spying', phone tapping allegations

CHANDIGARH: The Congress today demanded a thorough probe into the allegations of "spying" and "phone tapping" levelled by Haryana Health minister Anil Vij and Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Abhay Chautala.

Senior Congress leader and chief of the party's legislature group Kiran Choudhary today said that "spying and phone tapping" of senior cabinet ministers and opposition leaders "is an act of desperation borne out of the state government's "total and abject failure" to fulfill any of the promises made to the people in the run-up to the assembly polls."

In a statement issued here, Choudhary said "spying on own ministers showed that there was rift in the Khattar Cabinet and it was widening by the day".

She strongly condemned the "spying" and "tapping" the phones and demanded a thorough investigation into the charges levelled by the Health Minister and Leader of the Opposition.

"After doing virtual somersaults on its promises during the last nine months, the BJP Government has now taken to spying which brings out the saffron party in true colours," Choudhry alleged.

On July 24, Vij had caught a 'CID official' allegedly "spying" outside his office, although the state DGP had clarified that such personnel are deployed as per standard procedure to keep an eye on people visiting Ministers.

Yesterday, the senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala had charged the Manohar Lal Khattar government with tapping his phone and spying on him as well.