Snooping row: Change Modi as PM candidate, says Sibal; NCW withdraws demand for probe, say reports

New Delhi: Upping the ante in the escalating snooping row, Congress on Wednesday said BJP should change Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, as the saffron party rejected its demand for a probe into 'illegal' police watch of a woman allegedly at the behest of his close aide Amit Shah.

The BJP said the matter involving the woman in Gujarat should be put to rest after her father did not want any probe.

Meanwhile, taking a U-turn from their earlier demand of a probe by the Gujarat government, the National Commission for Women said that it won't ask for a probe. "If the father of the girl does not want us to take cognizance, we won't," NCW chief Mamta Sharma said, according to NDTV.

The father has also told the NCW in a letter that his daughter does not want any probe into the issue as there was no encroachment on her privacy.

Read here: NCW asks woman's father to verify letter

Countering the Congress demand for a central probe, the BJP said it was 'politically motivated' and wondered why it was insisting on this when the matter was a state subject.

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde indicated that security agencies were collecting information on the whole issue and if required a probe could be ordered. "We are collecting information on this and after that we will look into the matter," he told reporters.

Amit Shah, the man at the centre of the controversy, refused any comment when he was repeatedly asked about his stand in Agra where he is overseeing arrangements for a Modi rally to be held later in the week.

"Yes, I always said that," Union Minister and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said when asked whether the BJP should replace Modi as the party's PM candidate in the aftermath of the snooping controversy. "Sooner or later it will be done," he added.

Congress changed symbol many times, but not its intentions: Modi

Sibal said the Gujarat government should order a probe even if the woman's father was not in favour of it.

No one wants to be put on surveillance: Khurshid

Union minister Salman Khurshid questioned the claim made by the father of the woman that he had asked the state government to conduct surveillance on his daughter, and said intruding into someone's private life should be done only in the 'paramount national interest'.

Reacting to reports that the girl's father had written to National Commission for Women asking it not to take cognisance of the matter, Khurshid said a family has no right to take a decision on an individual member's behalf.

"As far as snooping, stalking or following somebody is concerned...I am sorry. Father, mother, a brother or sister has no right. An individual is an individual first and then a member of a family," Khurshid said.

"Why would an individual say I wanted to be snooped. Why would an individual say, I wanted somebody to look into the mails, I wanted somebody to hear my telephone calls. I wanted somebody to take me to airport. I want somebody to be there when I get off the aircraft," he said.

"If there is some crazy person who wants all this done, then I would say he should pay higher taxes, because you are getting the government do things it should not be doing," Khurshid said.

Protection is not snooping: Arun Jaitley

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said there is more political interest in the subject, rather than facts.

"Even after the concerned woman and her father are saying that security was provided on their request they are not complaining, but Congress is concerned about this," the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said.

"The basis of the case is in itself wrong. Security and protection is not snooping," he added.

Questioning the motive of Congress, Jaitley said, "Has this (Congress) government ordered a probe how thing were done in other cases? When the woman and her father herself was saying that this was the protection given to her at her own request for some specified reasons, then where is the question of probe in this."

Jaitley's party colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad said the matter concerned was under the jurisdiction of the state government and noted that the girl's father had no grievance.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said Congress should let the matter rest now that the girl's father has written to the NCW stating that the Modi government had made security arrangements for his daughter with the family's consent.

Next: BJP reacts sharply to Chidambaram's remarks on snooping issue

BJP reacts sharply to Chidambaram's remarks on snooping issue

New Delhi: Reacting sharply to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's remarks on illegal snooping issue, BJP on Wednesday warned Congress that it should stop resorting to 'shameless politics' on the matter of providing security to a woman as there may be skeletons in its own cupboard.

"Congres is resorting to shameless politics on the issue of providing security to the woman architect with the consent of her family. After reading the heart-rending letter of the father to National Commission for Women, any sensible person will stop discussing the issue," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

He claimed further discussion on the subject will lead to invasion of privacy of the family.

"Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is talking about snooping and stalking. Instead of doing so, he should really talk about price rise, the falling Rupee, rising unemployment and the falling economic growth. He should answer for that," Javadekar said.

BJP alleged Congress is indulging in "the worst kind of politics and has taken politics to a new low".

"Congress should respect the privacy of the family and if they do not show the sensibility and civility, then we want to warn them that there are many skeletons in their cupboard," Javadekar said.