According to unconfirmed media reports, Surface Transport, Shipping and Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari’s official residence 13 Teen Murti lane residence may have been bugged. The claim was first published in the weekly Sunday Guardian and subsequently flashed by its sister news channel NewsX. But the story so far has not been confirmed, but it has come as a juicy fodder both for sections of media and opposition Congress. Since bugging is a politically sensitive issue, the issue could also figure today in Parliament.
Sunday Guardian claims “the discovery was 'accidental' and a debugging exercise was immediately ordered, and more devices were consequently discovered. The weekly reports:
Initial investigations have revealed that the bugs were "planted in the house by a foreign agency since the sophisticated listening devices found are used only by western intelligence operatives, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA)". It may be recalled that Edward Snowden's revelations carried by Washington Post on 30 June stated that top BJP leaders were under surveillance by a premier US spy agency. It could not be ascertained who besides Gadkari were the other BJP leaders who had been spied upon. Operations may now be going on to check whether, or not, other prominent BJP leaders too were under surveillance by this external agency. The BJP-led NDA government lodged a strong protest with the US State Department following the publication of the news in the Washington Post.
Former BJP president and Union Minister in the NDA government Nitin Gadkari. PTI
The report elicited an immediate denial from the supposed 'target' of the surveillance. "Reports in a section of the media about listening devices having been found at my New Delhi residence are highly speculative," tweeted Gadkari. A source close to Gadkari told Firstpost that for them “the matter ends there. There was nothing more to add. We deny that any such device was found at Gadkariji’s residence. That media report does not say when and how the listening device was found but has gone on to suggest that it was done by foreign agencies, particularly by the US agencies. Only that media house knows how this is possible.”
The security and intelligence agencies went into a tizzy after the story was flashed on TV channels. Sources said that two agencies, whom it concerned most, Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau first checked whether their own officials and system had any information of this kind. Then Gadkari’s office and residence was flooded with phone calls and visits by security and intelligence officials. An official said it was an absurd situation: Gadkari’s official aides were asking security agencies for information, who in turn were asking same them for the same.
Beyond Gadkari’s tweet, the BJP has preferred to ignore the story. Even in off-record conversations, BJP leaders remain firm in their denials -- except for BJP party member Subramanian Swamy who has jumped in fuel more speculation: "My own investigations and my sources reveal that this may happen not later than October last year. The planting of the device and that means at that time, when the UPA was in power, the NSA has specifically targeted the BJP and Gadkari was a very important person. He had the confidence of the RSS."
While security agencies are still checking the veracity of the report, sources said the residence of senior BJP leaders and chambers of party president at headquarters 11 Ashoka Road is constantly scanned. “There is a laid out system whereby residence and offices of senior party leaders are regularly scanned to ensure that external device of any kind was not planted there. So far nothing out of ordinary has come to come to our knowledge”, a senior party functionary said. The BJP’s IT cell with equipped to handle the task. The party has an in-house mechanism to keep their key leaders offices and residential premises “clean”.
Congress has latched onto the issue and straightaway launched a frontal attack on Modi. Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "If reports of bugging of senior Cabinet minister Nitin Gadkari, who is also a former BJP president, are correct, they are indeed extremely serious. It reflects a certain lack of faith amongst ministerial colleagues and an absence of mutual trust. It's time that both Gadkari and also BJP and government come clean on the issue and place before the people of the country if at all there was bugging and if there was snooping being done ... at whose instance and at whose authority it has been done. And what is the reason, if any, for conducting such snooping. All these issues need to be clarified both by BJP as well as the Prime Minister and the home minister in the larger interest of people."
Gadkari is one of the most influential ministers in the Modi government, and is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s informal core group. He is a former party president and has close rapport with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. And while the capital is abuzz with rumours, Gadkari, is out of town, and will be back on Wednesday -- by when the storm in the teacup may have subsided.
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