New Delhi: Senior BJP leader L K Advani on Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come clear on the
reported bugging of Pranab Mukherjee's office and took a dig
at the "intelligent" Finance Minister for believing that the
substance found was a "chewing gum".
Terming it as a "serious issue", Advani said had it
been a small matter, Pranab Mukherjee would not have
complained to Singh in this regard.
"I had publicly said in Parliament that if Pranab
Mukherjee would not have been there in the government, I
wonder how it would function. He is an intelligent person and
hence I consider this a serious issue," he told a BJP rally
here.
The senior BJP leader said the NDA will raise the
issue in Parliament during the forthcoming Monsoon session.
Advani maintained that in his letter Mukherjee had
asked the Prime Minister for a "secret investigation" into the
suspected bugging of his office, indicating that this was a
serious matter.
"There were adhesives found in 16 places but they said
it was chewing gum. A small kid can come and paste chewing gum
maybe in one or two places, but will he paste it in 16
places?" Advani asked.
The BJP Parliamentary Party chief did not spare the
Prime Minister while taking digs at Mukherjee.
"The Prime Minister's case is different but I consider
Pranab Mukherjee as being very intelligent. Hence, he should
also consider the people of the country as intelligent. He
should understand that the explanation given by those
investigating that it was chewing gum will not be swallowed by
anybody. Nobody will accept it," Advani said.
He insisted that the Prime Minister should place the
whole truth behind this "shameful act".
Advani claimed that when he was a minister in the NDA
government, there were many instances when he went to Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and discussed the issues.
"I was in government for six years... (but) I did not
write a single letter (to the PM)," Advani said.
Advani maintained that while some people are saying
the industrial houses could have been bugging Mukherjee's
office, others say those who have black money abroad wanted to
know what was being done.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, June 23, 2011, 21:43