As soon as the Parliament assembled for the day, the opposition sought an explanation from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the allegation.
Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee told the opposition that as Singh was busy because of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visit, he would make a statement at 3:30 p.m. But, as chaos persisted and the opposition refused to relent, Chidambaram stood up to make the statement on behalf of the government.
In his statement, Chidambaram said, “I wish to state categorically that no telephone-tapping or eavesdropping on political leaders was authorized by the previous UPA government. Nor has the present UPA government authorized any such activity.”
Opposition parties united to accuse the government of eavesdropping on senior political leaders and demanded a probe into the scandal reported by a magazine last week. Chidambaram said, “Our Intelligence agencies function within the law. They are fully accountable to government. Under the Telegraph Act and the Information Technology Act, each case of monitoring of telephone or electronic communications has to be approved by the union home secretary personally, and is subject to review by an Oversight Committee chaired by the Cabinet secretary. Such monitoring as may be necessary to fight crime, for national security, or for our counterterrorism effort, is subject to multiple checks and oversight.” The row added pressure on the government a day before a possible confidence vote.
Few expect the Congress-led government to fall, despite it being at its weakest since re-election last year after two allies quit the coalition last month.
The row comes at a crucial time as the government is seeking support from its allies for a possible vote over high food prices, clear budget and several other key bills.
Outlook magazine reported intelligence officers had tapped the phones of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General-Secretary Prakash Karat and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The allegations have brought together opposition rivals who could demand a confidence vote on Tuesday.
At least 13 opposition parties, led by the Communists, have demanded the vote against an unpopular hike in fuel prices. The Congress-led government performed strongly when winning last year’s elections and is expected to survive the test, despite two allies quitting the coalition last month over a bill to reserve parliamentary seats for women.
The opposition, however, demanded a statement by Singh on the issue.
“Democracy has to be defended,” L.K. Advani, a veteran leader of the main opposition BJP, told the lower house of Parliament, which was repeatedly adjourned amid uproar on the opposition benches. “This house will not be satisfied until the prime minister comes to the house and makes a statement,” Advani added, demanding new legislation to prevent such abuses of personal privacy.
Parliamentary proceedings and clearance of key bills in the last two weeks have been stalled over a scandal involving India’s former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and charges of tax irregularities in the Indian Premier League.
Tharoor resigned a week ago after it was revealed his girlfriend had been given a free stake worth $15 million in a new IPL cricket team to be based in his state.
The opposition charged that this was a kickback for putting together the consortium that bought the franchise in the southern city of Kochi. Tharoor denies all wrongdoing.
The government has a comfortable majority in Parliament but has struggled to push through its legislative program in the face of rising food and fuel prices, Maoist violence and the IPL scandal.
— With input from agencies
