File photo of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
We are not the experts on snooping, says Nitish Kumar after BJP alleges phone-tapping
Nitish Kumar today turned an allegation that his government is tapping the phones of BJP leaders neatly on its head, quipping that expertise in that department lay with the BJP.
"We have no expertise in phone-tapping or sting operations or snooping. I think they are experts in this." the Bihar Chief Minister said, in an apparent reference to the raging controversy over the allegation that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah had ordered senior state police officers to spy on a young woman. Mr Modi's political rivals have alleged that the surveillance of the woman was ordered at Mr Modi's behest.
Yesterday, Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP leader and Mr Kumar's deputy till June this year, had accused the chief minister of tapping his phone and those of other BJP leaders, to settle political scores.
"Rattled by persistent criticism of his government, the Chief Minister has stooped low to the extent that he has been misusing his powers by ordering tapping of the BJP leaders telephones to hear their conversations as well as carrying out sting operations on his rivals," Sushil Modi had said in a statement.
Bihar's Mr Modi said there was no other way that Mr Kumar could have known of his conversations with BJP leaders in Hajipur a few days ago.
"The question is on whose instruction was my telephone tapped. It should be probed," he said.
Mr Kumar had in June cancelled a 17-year-old partnership with the BJP and unceremoniously dumped all its 11 ministers in Bihar, including Sushil Kumar Modi. He did this in protest against Narendra Modi's elevation in the BJP, a move, he predicted, towards naming Mr Modi its presumptive prime minister.
Since the split, scarcely a day has passed without Nitish's Janata Dal (United) and the BJP engaging in wordy duels.
Nitish Kumar today turned an allegation that his government is tapping the phones of BJP leaders neatly on its head, quipping that expertise in that department lay with the BJP.
"We have no expertise in phone-tapping or sting operations or snooping. I think they are experts in this." the Bihar Chief Minister said, in an apparent reference to the raging controversy over the allegation that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah had ordered senior state police officers to spy on a young woman. Mr Modi's political rivals have alleged that the surveillance of the woman was ordered at Mr Modi's behest.
Yesterday, Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP leader and Mr Kumar's deputy till June this year, had accused the chief minister of tapping his phone and those of other BJP leaders, to settle political scores.
"Rattled by persistent criticism of his government, the Chief Minister has stooped low to the extent that he has been misusing his powers by ordering tapping of the BJP leaders telephones to hear their conversations as well as carrying out sting operations on his rivals," Sushil Modi had said in a statement.
Bihar's Mr Modi said there was no other way that Mr Kumar could have known of his conversations with BJP leaders in Hajipur a few days ago.
"The question is on whose instruction was my telephone tapped. It should be probed," he said.
Mr Kumar had in June cancelled a 17-year-old partnership with the BJP and unceremoniously dumped all its 11 ministers in Bihar, including Sushil Kumar Modi. He did this in protest against Narendra Modi's elevation in the BJP, a move, he predicted, towards naming Mr Modi its presumptive prime minister.
Since the split, scarcely a day has passed without Nitish's Janata Dal (United) and the BJP engaging in wordy duels.
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