VIJAYAWADA: A House Committee will be constituted to probe allegations that the previous TDP government had procured the controversial Pegasus spyware, Speaker Tammineni Seetharam announced in the State Assembly on Monday.
After a short discussion on the Pegasus controversy triggered by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Treasury benches requested for a thorough probe into the issue, the speaker said. The members of the committee and its terms of references would be announced soon.
Concluding the short discussion, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath said Banerjee’s assertion in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday that the TDP government had purchased the Israeli spyware warranted an in-depth investigation.
Stating that there was a possibility of the TDP regime acquiring the spyware, the Minister said that it should also be found out if the previous government had committed any other breach of public data and misuse of technology. He said the House Committee’s findings would be submitted to the Supreme Court-constituted three-member panel looking into the Pegasus case.
TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh refuted allegations that the TDP government had purchased the spyware. He reiterated that former DGP Gautam Sawang’s office, in a reply to an RTI query, had clarified that the Andhra Pradesh government had never purchased Pegasus.
“Even the Israeli Ambassador to India had said that the spyware was not sold to private persons. Regular business was set aside to debate Pegasus,” he said.Lokesh welcomed any inquiry -- by the House Committee or Judicial Committee or even the Central Bureau of Investigation.
“There is still no clarity on whether Mamata Banerjee had made such a comment against the previous TDP regime,” he said, and accused the ruling YSRC of resorting to malicious propaganda against TDP.
Earlier during the discussion, Bugganna said besides Pegasus, as being alleged, TDP had also misused public data and resorted to phone tapping when in power.
He said former intelligence chief AB Venkateswara Rao, now kept under suspension, had proposed to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Aerostats worth Rs 25 crore, and its timing coincided with the alleged Pegasus deal.
“Claims of Mamata Bannerjee, one of the senior-most politicians in the country, have raised several doubts in the minds of people, and there is a need for an in-depth inquiry into it,” he stressed, adding that it was apparently procured through illegal means, and hence finding evidence would be tough.
Referring to a March 18, 2021, complaint filed against Venkateswara Rao in Vijayawada, the minister said he had made the proposal for UAVs and Aerostats on August 30, 2017, bypassing the technical evaluation committee. The proposal was forwarded to the principal secretary (Home) and it was decided to procure them through the State Trading Corporation. Four companies -- Radiant Coral Digital Technologies from Bengaluru, Allsop Technologies Limited from the UK, NVSM Skytex Private Limited based in Gurugram, and RT Inflatable Objects Limited from Israel -- participated in the tendering process.
“The Israeli company bagged the deal, whose Indian distribution partner was Akasam Advanced System Company, owned by Chetan Sai Krishna, son of Venkateswara Rao. Interestingly, the company was started on July 11, 2017, a month before the proposal was made to procure the drones with an outlay of Rs 25 crore. Further, it was noted that AB Venkateswara Rao had visited Israel twice that year -- on April 2, 2017, and November 19, 2017,” Buggana alleged.
Despite pressure to get funds sanctioned for the proposal, a group of senior police officers shelved the project after deliberations, he added.The FM further accused the TDP government of committing data theft and keeping a tab on not just its rivals but also on the public by misusing the Aadhaar data stored in Seva Mitras’ database.
“Seva Mitras were equipped with data collected through Praja Sadhikara survey using RTGS. Their job was to visit households and collect data regarding benefits from various schemes. Later, through 1100, people would be asked to share their experience regarding government schemes. Those responses were analysed and names of people who responded in the negative were removed from the voters’ list. It was a big conspiracy and a serious breach of public data. Luckily, the election was advanced, or else lakhs would have lost their right to vote,” Buggana said, while requesting the Speaker to constitute a Committee to look into the data breach between 2014 and 2019.
Ex-intel chief denies charge
Asserting that no government department had procured or used the spyware till April 2019, former intelligence chief AB Venkateswara Rao said he has sought the govt’s nod to file a defamation suit against a few Telugu media, YSRC MLAs and an MP
How will members be appointed?
Sources said as YSRC, TDP and Jana Sena has MLAs, the Speaker may nominate a few from the respective parties based on their strength in the House. Since JSP has only one MLA, the Speaker may or may not nominate the lone member. After the names are announced, the panel will call a meeting to discuss the way forward