New Delhi:
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that there's no need for any further concern over whether his office was bugged last year. "This is all bogus, we should not waste our time on these issues," Mr Mukherjee said on Wednesday.
The BJP disagrees. "The first question that arises is was the government spying on its own Finance Minister? Or was it a corporate house? In both situations, the matter is serious," said Sushma Swaraj. "If the government was doing this, it is an example of the growing trust deficit between the ministers of this government. If a corporate house was doing this, it's a huge security lapse," she elaborated.
Official sources have told NDTV that Pranab Mukherjee knew just who had bugged his office.
The controversy is rooted in a letter sent by Mr Mukherjee to the Prime Minister in September after 16 "planted adhesives" were spotted in different parts of his ministry, including his office. Mr Mukherjee suggested the PM consider "a serious inquiry" about the "serious breach of security."
The alert about the minister's office possibly being bugged was raised first by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) during a sweep of the Finance Ministry. Private detectives hired by the CBDT, which reports to the Finance Ministry found adhesives at 16 locations. They said these may have been used to fasten listening devices. After Mr Mukherjee wrote to Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister's office asked the Intelligence Bureau to conduct an inquiry. In November, the Intelligence Bureau said there was no evidence to establish a security breach. It said the adhesive marks may have been caused by chewing gum stuck on walls and desks by the cleaning staff. "A laughable theory," said Ms Swaraj today.
The issues the government may need to address is why the CBDT was being used in the first place to sweep the ministry when it's the Intelligence Bureau's job to handle these searches. The fact that Mr Mukherjee wrote to the PM instead of Home Minister P Chidambaram has also been used by the Opposition to suggest a "trust deficit" among senior members of the government.