Kolkata, July 1 (IANS) Alleging that union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s office was ‘bugged’ following instructions from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said that the Congress has now degenerated into a ‘house of distrust’.
‘The bugging in Pranab-babu’s office was done on Sonia’s orders. She does not trust Pranab-babu who is a scholar,’ BJP national spokesperson Tarun Vijay told a media meet here.
‘The Congress has become a house of distrust. They are plotting against one another,’ Vijay said.
He claimed that while the bugging was a clear case of ‘mistrust’, what was very shameful was the silence of Prime Minister Manmohan Sing on the entire episode.
He called the incident a ‘grave threat’ to the nation’s security.
He also expressed concern over retired officials of the Research and Analysis Wing – the country’s premier foreign intelligence agency – joining private security agencies.
‘This is a threat to national security and anti-national agencies can use such officers,’ he said.
Mukherjee – the number two in the United Progressive Alliance central government – had reportedly demanded a secret inquiry into the alleged planting of ‘adhesives’ at 16 key locations in his office, suggesting that there was a possible surveillance attempt.
However, on June 22 Mukherjee had said that the Intelligence Bureau had investigated the matter and ‘they found there is nothing’.
Vijay announced that senior BJP leader L.K Advani and Chhattishgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh would be in the city July 10 to mark the 110th birth anniversary of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee.
‘Advani will urge the young generation to unite against the misrule of the central government. He will also make some major announcements,’ he said.
