Snooping row: Gujarat government favoured woman's kin, claims Congress

AHMEDABAD: The controversy over the alleged surveillance on a 32-year-old woman by the Gujarat government at the behest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi's aide Amit Shah acquired a fresh twist when Congress claimed that the state had doled out a showpiece solar energy project in 2009-10 to the woman's family even when there were more qualified suitors.

"Solar energy is an issue close to Modi's heart, as he has said in the past. Now we know why the girl's brother's brand new company, which was founded after his encounter with the woman, was given the project. The Gandhinagar Grid Project, touted as the biggest project in India in the sector, was the first one that the company bagged in its short existence," Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil alleged.

At the insistence of the woman, Modi convened an international solar energy meet in Gandhinagar to facilitate business contacts, Gohil alleged, adding that the government recommended the woman to top industrial houses of the state besides dishing out multi-crore projects to her family.

Modi, BJP's prime ministerial candidate, was touring poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday, while his confidant and the BJP in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Amit Shah is yet to speak out on the whole snooping episode. In Gujarat, BJP leader Jaynarayan Vyas referred to the Congress allegations as a "comedy of errors" .

"I think this entire episode is based on wrong doing. With Singhal - IPS officer who gave the snooping tapes to CBI - who himself is out on bail and selectively disseminating information , there is no substance in the allegations. Further, even the agency that is in charge of the tapes has said it is not sure about their authenticity . This is far from truth," he said.

State BJP spokesman Vijay Rupani didn't return calls while BJP Gujarat unit president RC Faldu said he couldn't react immediately since he had a personal emergency to attend to. Gohil demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the snooping scandal.

The controversy came to light on November 15 when two investigative portals, Cobrapost and Gulail, claimed that Amit Shah, the former home minister of Gujarat and Modi's e aide, had ordered illegal surveillance of a woman at the behest of his ‘saheb'.

"This snooping and surveillance is following Modi's fear. Not long before the surveillance, Modi and the woman were on great terms but something went dangerously wrong and Modi was scared that the woman may expose something. Before a compromise was struck, surveillance was ordered on her," Gohil alleged.