LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday targeted the central government on its "silence" over the Pegasus controversy saying that it is necessary to give credible answers and be accountable towards the country and its people.
She also slammed Union minister Gen VK Singh for his "supari media" remark.
"The Pegasus espionage case is making the central government and the BJP go sleepless. In this very serious matter, there have been new revelations on a regular basis. Instead of giving reliable answers by being accountable and responsible towards the country, the silence of the Centre raises more questions. The government should disclose (the issue)," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a tweet in Hindi.
In another tweet, she called out the "narrow thinking of the government".
"India's name in Pegasus case along with countries like Mexico, Poland and Hungary is no less a matter of concern," she wrote.
A report in the US newspaper The New York Times' claimed that India had purchased Pegasus spyware in 2017 as part of a two-billion-dollar defence deal with Israel.
Following this, a major controversy erupted on Saturday and the opposition accused the government of engaging in illegal espionage and termed it "treason".
While the government is yet to react on the issue, former Army chief and currently the Minister of State for Road Transport Gen VK Singh had tweeted, "Can you trust NYT?? They are known 'Supari Media'".
Last year, a conglomerate of international media groups claimed that Pegasus was allegedly used against several Indian politicians, ministers, social activists, businessmen and journalists.