Nitish for probe in Pegasus row; Houses adjourned for the day

New Delhi: In a major political development, Bihar Chief Minister and a key BJP ally Nitish Kumar on Monday added his voice to the Opposition parties demand a probe in the alleged phone-tapping scandal through Israeli spyware Pegasus.

At a time when the government has outrightly rejected the demands of Opposition parties and dubbed Pegasus a 'non-serious' issue, the demand for a probe into the whole incident by BJP's key ally may add to the woes of the ruling party.

Notably, the continued protest by the Opposition parties demanding discussion on the Pegasus issue has marred the proceedings of the Monsoon Session of Parliament as both the Houses continue to get adjourned day after day.

In the Lower House, before Rama Devi, who was in the Chair, adjourned the proceedings till Tuesday morning, the House passed the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill with voice-vote. When the House re-assembled at 3.30 pm, the Opposition members continued their protest as Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she wanted to respond to the concerns raised by the Leader of the Congress party, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

As the din continued, the minister sought passage of the Bill, and the House approved it by a voice vote.

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day as Opposition MPs continued their protest over the Pegasus snooping row and other matters.

When Rajya Sabha reassembled at 3.36 pm, the government moved two Bills for consideration, but Opposition members, some of them carrying placards, kept raising slogans in the Well of the House.

Bhubaneswar Kalita, who was in the Chair, tried to pacify the protesting members, but in vain.

As sloganeering continued, he adjourned the proceedings for the day. The House will reconvene at 11 am on Tuesday.

"Such things should not be done to disturb and harass people... The whole thing should be made public," Kumar said. When asked if the matter should be probed, the Bihar Chief Minister said: "Of course it should happen."

He told reporters in Patna: "There has been talk of telephone tapping for so many days... The issue is being raised in Parliament and there are news reports in the media... So definitely it should be discussed and looked into... the whole thing should be made public."

The Bihar Chief Minister further said there is no guarantee and no one knows how these things can be done. So the whole thing should be examined and after judging each aspect, action should be taken, he stressed.

It's the second time that Nitish Kumar has raised his voice in contrast to its ally partner BJP. Earlier, the de-facto JDU leader had put BJP in a tizzy when he raised his voice for a caste-based census. Kumar has also planned to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the issue.