BJP and Congress trade barbs overs Pegasus issue

The Congress and the BJP traded barbs on Thursday over the Supreme Court’s observations in the Pegasus matter with the Opposition party alleging that the government’s “non-cooperation” was an acceptance that it had “something deeper to hide” and the ruling party asking Rahul Gandhi to apologise for his charges.

The top court said the technical panel appointed by it to probe the unauthorised use of Pegasus has found some malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined but it could not be concluded that it was due to the Israeli spyware. After perusing the report submitted by former top court Justice R V Raveendran, Chief Justice N V Ramana also noted that the Central government did not cooperate with the Pegasus probe.

“PM and his government’s non-cooperation with the SC appointed committee is an acceptance that they had something deeper to hide and want to crush democracy,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.

The BJP claimed that the opposition’s attack on the government over the Pegasus issue was all part of a “motivated campaign” aimed at weakening and defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country.

BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered if Rahul Gandhi and the Congress will apologise after the Supreme Court-appointed panels found some kind of malware in five mobile phones.