BENGALURU: Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh on Sunday demanded a proper investigation into KPCC President DK Shivakumar’s phone allegedly being tapped, and said the BJP is obstructing individual freedom. “It has been brought to the notice of the police department. For 10-15 days, there has been a lot of disturbance during phone calls,” he said.
Shivakumar had on Friday expressed doubts that his phone was being tapped, catching the government on the wrong foot. Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar and Union minister Pralhad Joshi had rushed to the government’s rescue, and reminded Shivakumar in not too polite terms that he had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and IT officials and sent to prison, and is out on bail. Hence, he should not talk about phone-tapping.
Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai had rubbished Shivakumar’s claims. Congress working president Saleem Ahmed said Shivakumar was arrested after he “safely housed” Gujarat MLAs whom the BJP later poached, a price he paid for remaining loyal to the party.
Shivakumar’s phone was being tapped after the Jana Dhwani programme was launched to expose government corruption, he said, and claimed he had heard disturbances and echoes on the line, indicating that it was being tapped. Suresh said, “BJP is an expert in this... Instead of talking about what happened during our time (Congress govt), talk about what you are doing. It is the government’s duty to investigate it.” Last August, the BJP government ordered a CBI probe into alleged phone-tapping during the Congress-JDS government.