The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday rejected allegations of illegal snooping against BJP general secretary Amit Shah, claiming the Congress' "dirty tricks wing" was responsible for stirring up the fresh row.
Two news portals on Friday had made public tapes in which Shah is purportedly heard directing police to put a young woman and a senior IAS officer under illegal surveillance in 2009, when he was Gujarat's minister of state for home.
With Gujarat chief minister and the saffron party's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, also being dragged into the controversy, BJP president Rajnath Singh said, "
There is no question of rethinking on our PM candidate even if a thousand baseless allegations... are made. We apprehend that the Congress' dirty tricks wing will make such allegations... as the elections draw near."
Union law minister Kapil Sibal had said on Friday "the fight is between Modi and the BJP" in the wake of the snooping controversy, Firstpost, a news website, reported.
"
Instead of making these allegations, the Congress should clarify as to who is its prime ministerial candidate," Singh said.
Investigative news websites Gulail and Cobrapost on Friday had played out to the media a series of conversations in Gujarati, which they claim were between Shah and the then SP in the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad, GL Singhal.
The BJP president pointed out that
Cobrapost itself had said it cannot make any claims about the authenticity of the CD.
Hindustan Times could not independently verify the claim that the voice in the CD was that of Shah. The Congress has demanded a probe by the CBI. The woman's father, however, has denied that the Gujarat government and police had put his daughter under surveillance, and charged "vested interests" with giving a political colour to a personal issue.
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The girl's father has also given a statement that he had asked Modi, with whom he had family relations, for security for his daughter. The head of the government is responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the people. Modi was only performing his dharma," Singh said.
The tapes also reveal that Shah also allegedly instructed Singhal to keep an eye on the movements of IAS officer Pradeep Sharma, who was apparently known to the woman. The CBI, which, according to the portals, has the entire set of telephone recordings and Singhal's statement, said the matter was under investigation.
BJP rejects snooping allegation against Amit Shah - Hindustan Times