Tapping phones? The BJP does it: Ramalinga Reddy

Mangaluru: Home Minister, Ramalinga Reddy on Wednesday neatly turned the tables on the BJP by not only denying that the phones of its leaders in the state were being tapped, but also  accusing  the Union government of tapping the phones of  35 Congress leaders in Karnataka for the last three to four years.

Asserting that he would shortly write to the Union Home Ministry to make the state's displeasure clear at its practice of keeping tabs of its leaders, he said, "We have known that the Union government is tapping our phone calls. But we have preferred to remain silent. It's only because (BJP leader) Ashok has made allegations against us, that I am revealing how Congress leaders in the state are being tracked by the Union government. They have  misused the ED, Income Tax department and  the RBI in the past. They are experts at misusing power. And now they are keeping tabs on the phone calls of Congress leaders in the state."

Mr Reddy, who was in Mangaluru to inaugurate the Traffic (South) police station and hold a review meeting of  the Western Range police, added that he would shortly write to the Centre to protest the tapping of the Congress leaders' phones.

 Asked what  the basis was for his allegation,  he claimed he had the evidence,  but did not want to  make it public.

The Minister also did not think it  neccessary to order a judicial or CBI inquiry into the charges made by Mr Ashok against the state government. Strongly denying his claim that it had tapped the phone calls of  162 BJP leaders, he said, " This is not true. Why should we bother about the telephone calls of BJP leaders? Will they come to power in the next election? We know they will not. We never did it in the past and will never do it in the future.”