New Delhi, April 26: The alleged tapping of the telephones of senior political leaders rocked both the Houses of Parliament on Monday as a united Opposition tried its best to put the government on the mat over the issue. Home minister P. Chidamram’s statement in both Houses, in which he categorically declared that the government had not “authorised”, nor found “any substance” in the allegations, failed to calm completely dissatisfied Opposition members.

The Opposition stuck to the refrain that reports of the alleged tapping reminded them of the 1975-77 Emergency, and demanded that a joint parliamentary committee probe the issue. This appears to have been rejected by the government. But the united Opposition stuck to this demand and did not allow the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to function, leading to the premature adjournment of both Houses for the rest of the day. The Opposition, meanwhile, demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh come to the House and make a “categorical statement” on the issue.
In his statement, Mr Chidambram said: “I wish to state categorically that no telephone tapping or eavesdropping on political leaders was authorised by the previous UPA government. Nor has the present UPA government authorised any such activity.” He made the statement in the Lok Sabha amid slogan-shouting by agitated Opposition members, and read the same statement in the Rajya Sabha.

The home minister added that if any evidence emerged or was discovered on this, the matter would be thoroughly investigated. He said the report in Outlook magazine on phone-tapping was thoroughly investigated by the appropriate agencies, and “nothing has been found in the records of the NTRO (National Technical Research Organisation) to substantiate the allegations”.

The newsmagazine alleged in an article in its latest issue that the phones of Union minister Sharad Pawar, Congress leader Digvijay Singh, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had been tapped.
Earlier, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani led the Opposition attack in the Lok Sabha. He demanded that a “clear” statement from none other than the Prime Minister would satisfy the members. “The Prime Minister should come and make a categorical statement that the government will not do any phone-tapping in future”, he said, adding that he wanted a “law to be passed to prevent the government” from tapping the phones of political leaders.
In the Rajya Sabha, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu made a similar demand.

In both Houses, members from the BJP, Left, AIADMK, JD(U) and SP did not allow Question Hour or any other legislative business to be conducted.

Later, responding to Mr Advani’s demand, Leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee said the Prime Minister could make a statement only at 3.30 pm as he had a luncheon with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Otherwise, they should allow the home minister to make a statement to clarify the issue.

But the Opposition members were not satisfied with Mr Mukherjee’s statement and continued with their protests. Members of the BSP, which is cosying up to the government ahead of the crucial cut motions, were conspicuous by their silence during the protests in both the Houses.

Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said there was “no question of a JPC probe” on the issue, as it would not serve any purpose. “Can the home minister make a false statement on the floor of the House? We cannot constitute a JPC at the drop of a hat,” they emphasised.

Age Correspondent