SHIMLA: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, Mukesh Agnihotri, on Thursday accused the state government of spying on MLAs through their personal security officers (PSOs).
Raising the issue in the assembly on the second day of the ongoing budget session, Agnihotri stated that the state CID in a message on its WhatsApp group directed the PSOs of the MLAs to inform it about their locations.
The PSOs were further directed not to disclose to MLAs that their locations had been asked, he claimed.
The LoP alleged that the state government did not get Pegasus software but it is spying on the Opposition as well as the ruling MLAs through PSOs.
"The state government should immediately suspend the officer who sent the message on the WhatsApp group," Agnihotri said.
Replying to his allegations, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the government had not directed any officer to spy on any of the MLAs.
The question of doing so by the state government does not arise at all, he said, adding that the privacy of the MLAs would be maintained.
"Sometimes, information regarding the locations of MLAs is sought by the police for ensuring their security," he added.
The chief minister said he would check if any such message was sent for spying.
He added that action would be taken against the responsible officer (if it's determined that information regarding the whereabouts of MLAs was sought for spying).