Are phones of Congress leaders in Karnataka being tapped? BJP ridicules accusation

Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy has said phones of Congress leaders in the state are being tapped for 'over 18 hours a day.' BJP has reacted saying Congress is scared of 'an impending defeat' in the Karnataka Assembly elections.

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New Delhi: A day after Karnataka home minister Ramalinga Reddy claimed that phones of Congress leaders in the state were being tapped, BJP has come out all guns blazing in slamming the accusation.

Reddy on Saturday had said that BJP was making use of unscrupulous methods and had tapped phones of several Congress leaders to learn about the party's strategies for the May 12 state assembly elections. PTI reported that Reddy blamed Amit Shah for it and that some of the tappings were for 18 hours a day. He then went on to say that teams had been tasked with recording conversations between Congress leaders and then translating these recordings to either Hindi or English.

BJP, as expected, is absolutely fuming.

Party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi on Saturday hit back at Reddy and said that the accusition only shows the state Congress is in. "Karnataka ministers saying their phones are being tapped by BJP is hilarious," he told news agency ANI. "This is nothing but a lame excuse for their impending defeat."

The political climate in Karnataka has been getting hot in the last few months and threatens to boil over in the weeks leading up to the elections. Leaders from both parties have traded verbal jabs, unleashed accusations galore and - at times- indulged in personal insults.

Stakes, understandably, are high.

While CM Siddaramaiah is looking to win another term and his Congress party is desperate to hold on to Karnataka at a time when its presence in most states has been enormously diminished, BJP is looking for momentum in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections next year. A win in Karnataka could also mean an entry point into southe