BJP govt in Himachal spying on our MLAs, alleges Cong
Shimla: Opposition Congress on Thursday accused the BJP government in Himachal Pradesh of spying on MLAs and asked the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur as who really authorised state's CID wing to instruct PSOs for sending details of MLAs movements.
Raising the issue in the state Assembly, currently in session, Leader of Opposition (LOP) Mukesh Agnihotri said he has intercepted a WhatsApp message, sent to all the PSOs group directing them to send daily briefs about MLAs location and movements. What is more serious, he pointed out that the instructions read that MLA should not be told about the daily reporting to the CID.
"It's a clear breach of the privileges of the MLAs and a case of spying.The BJP government, as could not hire the services of Pegasus as had been done by the central government, thus have chosen to do spying on the Opposition as well as the ruling MLAs through PSOs.
"The state government should immediately suspend the officer who sent the message on the WhatsApp group and the Chief Minister also explained what was the need of spying on the MLAs," he asked.
The Chief Minister rejected the charge of spying on the MLAs but assured that the matter will be looked into. "The government, neither has intentions to spy on the MLAs nor passed any such orders to the CID. Yet, it's the responsibility of the government to oversee safety of the life of MLAs during their movements," he said advising Agnihotri not to sensationalise the issue.
Meanwhile, the House witnessed frayed tempers between the Opposition and the ruling party over a fire incident at firecrackers factory at Una as the Opposition wanted to know as under whose patronage an illegal factory was allowed to function and store explosives.
Six persons, all labourers working in the factory, had died while 14 others were injured in the fire which broke out at the factory on February 22.
Earlier, the Chief Minister informed the House about an inquiry having been ordered besides setting up of an SIT under Sumedha Dwivedi. No one will be spared once the government gets the report within a week's time.
He admitted that the factory had no permission. The promoters had started work at a site earlier approved for a different industry. It had not taken any licence to manufacture fire crackers or store explosives. How do the explosives reach Una ? This is also a matter of serious concern which only investigations can answer.