Mandya Congress netas: Our phones are tapped

Bengaluru: Mandya Congress leaders believe their phones are being tapped and their  every movement is being watched by police in mufti, who are keeping an eye on visitors to their houses and who they  talk to since they refused to campaign for JD(S) candidate, Prajwal Revanna, in the constituency for the coming Lok Sabha poll.

“I can tell my phone is being tapped to keep track of whom I talk to. So I have decided not to say anything over the phone, whether my mobile or landline till the elections are held,” one leader told Deccan Chronicle.

Accusing Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of being responsible for the phone tapping and surveillance, he said, "Since the police intelligence wing is with him,  it is easy for him to deploy its staff in plain clothes near our homes.”

The Mandya Congressmen claim the JD(S) is doing everything possible to make sure Mr Prajwal Revanna, son of Public Works Minister H D Revanna wins from the constituency.  “Usually, the party in power keeps track of  the opposition,  but for the first time it is keeping on eye on senior leaders and former legislators of its coalition partner,” they allege.

The suspicion has increased after the tremendous response to the roadshow and rally of Ms Sumalatha Ambarish, widow of the late former MP, M H Ambarish, who is contesting as an independent candidate from Mandya. It is no secret that several local Congress workers not only participated in the roadshow but also shared the dais with her. "We can ask our workers to work for  Prajwal but we cannot force them," pointed out a local Congress leader, claiming that Congress workers of Hassan too were being watched as there was similar opposition to  Mr Kumaraswamy's  son, Nikhil, contesting from there among the party's rank and file.