Several leaders' phones get tapped, claims Mallikarjun Kharge (File)
Attacking the Centre over the Pegasus issue, which returned to headlines after Rahul Gandhi's speech at Cambridge University, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that "the government never wants to speak the truth on this issue."
"We've raised this issue several times in Parliament but Government does not answer this. Not just Congress or individually Rahul Gandhi, but the whole House raised this issue [Pegasus], but the government never want to tell the truth about this issue," Mr Kharge said.
Rahul Gandhi, recently in a lecture at Cambridge University, claimed that his phone was being spied on through Pegasus, an Israeli spyware, and that he was warned by Intelligence officers to be "careful" about what he speaks on calls.
"I had Pegasus on my phone. A large number of politicians had Pegasus on their phones. I have been called by Intelligence officers who told me, 'Please be careful about what you are saying on the phone because we are sort of recording the stuff'. So this is the constant pressure that we feel. Cases on the Opposition. I have got a number of criminal liable cases for things that should under no circumstances be criminal liable cases. That's what we are trying to defend," the Congress leader said in his address.
Mr Kharge too claimed that several leaders' phones get tapped and slammed the government for asking for proof of every claim made by the Opposition.
"Many people's phones are also tapped. I do not have proof of it but everyone knows," he said.
"They [Centre] speak again and again, asking for proof of unemployment, and inflation despite it is seen everywhere," Mr Kharge added.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister Anurag Thakur lashed out at the Wayanad MP and pointed out that it is a habit of the latter to raise unfounded allegations and "defame" India on foreign shores.
He also asked Rahul why he did not submit his phone for an examination before the Supreme Court-appointed committee, which was set up to look into the snooping allegations against the government.
"What was his compulsion that he could not submit his mobile phone (before the committee) to have it checked for Pegasus spyware? He is already on bail in a (National Herald) corruption case. What was there in his phone that he needed to hide? Why did he and other leaders (who Rahul claims were allegedly spied on) not submit their phones? It has become his habit to defame India on foreign shores," Mr Thakur said.
Mr Thakur said the Congress MP has Pegasus in his mind and nowhere else.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)