Snoopgate: Will Appoint Judge Before Votes are Counted, Says Government

New Delhi: In the midst of a bitter election campaign, the government has arranged a new confrontation with the BJP by announcing that it will assign a judge to investigate if the Gujarat police spied on a young woman architect at the behest of Narendra Modi.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said a retired judge will be appointed before May 16, which is when votes will be counted. "As Chief Minister, he (Modi) was snooping on women.  So what will happen to our women if he becomes PM?" he said.

Mr Modi is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate and is serving his fourth term as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

The BJP says that rules forbid the government from making an important appointment after elections have been called. "I doubt very much if any of these moves is likely to succeed. Even if it did, a future Government would be well within its legitimate rights to review such a malafide last-minute decision of the UPA," said the party's Arun Jaitley.  

The Congress has leveraged Snoopgate in its campaign to accuse Mr Modi of violating the privacy of a woman, blatantly breaking the laws to have her phones tapped and her movements monitored. (Priyanka references Snoopgate, says 'throw out netas who tap women's phones')
 
The BJP has said that the woman architect was aware that her family had sought the Gujarat government's help in ensuring that she was tailed because they were worried about her safety.

Five months ago, the Gujarat government tasked a retired judge to investigate the scandal, but a month later, the union government said it would set up its own commission. (Stalk-Gate: Gujarat government forms two-member Commission of Inquiry)

The Centre's renewed campaign comes just days after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the daughter of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, brought up the issue in a public meeting in Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Mrs Gandhi and her son and Congress Number 2, Rahul Gandhi have also invoked the Snoopgate issue in the last one week.

The BJP has alleged that the Centre's inquiry infringes upon the state government's right to handle matters of law and order. (Stalk-Gate inquiry by Centre is not vendetta, claims Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde)