Opp demands govt statement in Parliament on bugging issue

Unconvinced with Nitin Gadkari dismissing a report about bugging of his residence, Congress and other opposition parties today demanded that the government give a statement in Parliament on the issue.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, however, said it would not be appropriate to pass a comment on an issue "which is not concrete" as Union Minister Gadkari had himself dubbed it has "highly speculative".

Congress leader Manish Tewari said the government must inform the citizens the legal architecture available to protect themselves from such incidents.

Referring to former prime minister Manmohan Singh's statement yesterday that a thorough probe should be conducted into the incident, NCP leader Tariq Anwar said the government "must issue a statement in the House about the authenticity of the bugging incident and whether the PMO or any external forces are involved in it".

To a question on whether he had any knowledge of the American National Security Agency wanting to spy on BJP, former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid replied in negative, saying the US had the best of relations with that party.

Noting that BJP had all the resources and powers at its disposal, he said, "If they think there is something they must look at and investigate, then they should do it.

"It is important that they must share the information, once something like this has come out in public domain.... They must share the entire information to put public mind to rest and also to make sure that our country remains protected...," he said.

A media report had claimed that high power listening devices were found in the bed room at the 13 Teen Murti Lane residence of Gadkari, who is a former BJP chief.

Blaming the US for the bugging incident, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said it never wanted "nationalistic" parties such as BJP to come to power.