Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Monday that he favoured a thorough inquiry into allegations of phone tapping with the help of Pegasus spyware. Currently the Pegasus controversy has led to a logjam in Parliament. Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is an ally of the BJP at the Centre as well as in Bihar. Kumar however, defended his statement with the remark, ‘I know of this controversy only from whatever I have read about it in the newspapers’.
“It is a known fact that modern technology can be put to sinister uses. If there have been any attempts to intercept people’s telephonic conversations, it would be better to get the matter probed for suitable action,” Nitish Kumar told reporters here on the sidelines of his weekly public interaction programme.
Kumar was asked about the Opposition’s demand that the matter be probed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee. The Bihar CM, who has been a former Union minister himself, said “I cannot comment on what is taking place on the floor of the Parliament. But those who have any concrete information with regard to such alleged snooping, must share the same with the government. I am sure the issue will be squarely addressed.”
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Opposition parties have been aggressively protesting over the Pegasus snooping case in Lok Sabha as well as in Rajya Sabha. They have crippled functioning of both houses of Parliament.
Kumar expressed surprise when his attention was drawn towards a remark by his cabinet colleague and BJP leader Samrat Chaudhary who had complained about ‘compulsions of coalition politics’ and ‘our voice is not being heard’.