File photo of Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram today took a dig at Narendra Modi over the illegal snooping row. "This is the first time I have heard that there is a request for providing security and in that wonderful state, security is provided by stalking and snooping," he said.
Mr Chidambaram was replying to a question on the Gujarat Chief Minister's close aide and former minister Amit Shah being accused of misusing his powers for the illegal surveillance of a young woman in 2009.
"I think this is condemnable. Providing security isn't the same as stalking, providing security is not the same as snooping," Mr Chidambaram said.
The BJP and the Congress are engaged in a bitter spat over alleged snooping of the woman with the latter accusing Mr Modi of heading a "fascist" dispensation in Gujarat where a woman was allegedly ordered to be stalked.
The BJP rubbished the charge calling it the handiwork of the "dirty tricks department" of the Congress.
Two investigative news portals, cobrapost.com and Gulail, had claimed on November 15 that Amit Shah had ordered illegal surveillance of the woman at the behest of one "saheb" or 'boss'. They released taped conversation between Mr Shah and IPS officer G L Singhal to support their claim but said its authenticity could not be confirmed.
The Congress has alleged that Mr Modi was the "boss" referred to in those conversations.
Today, a senior bureaucrat from Gujarat, Pradeep Sharma told NDTV that he has asked the Supreme Court to order the state government to explain whether he too was placed under surveillance.
In 2010, Mr Sharma was suspended by the Gujarat government and then arrested on corruption charges. He said he was "persecuted" because he knew of the relationship between a top Gujarat politician and the woman whose identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons.