LoP Ashoka accuses Karnataka govt of tapping legislators' phones

Amid the ongoing honey-trapping row in Karnataka, Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka claimed that the ruling Congress government of the state is wiretapping the phones of ministers and leaders of opposition parties.

He said this in response to media reports stating that the Cooperation Minister, KN Rajanna’s MLC-son, R Rajendra, told Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that the phones of the ruling party’s lawmakers were being tapped. He further accused the chief minister of being the "orchestrator" in bringing the "honey-trap" issue to light, according to a report by the Deccan Herald.

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Ashoka’s accusations

Ashoka spoke to reporters and claimed the Karnataka government was "100 per cent" involved in tapping the phones of legislators. He said he had spoken to Kumaraswamy regarding the issue, and now the ruling Congress party has come up with the same allegations. According to him, this was enough proof that the ruling party wanted to "finish" political opponents by tapping the phones of both the ruling and opposition party leaders.

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“Rajanna’s son, an MLC, has stated that they took the chief minister’s permission before speaking about this issue in the Assembly. That shows who the orchestrator is. Isn’t this planned then? Amid this factional infighting, the government has died,” Ashoka said, accusing Siddaramaiah of being the "orchestrator" of addressing the honey-trap issue.

Ashoka claimed that this issue was raised as part of a battle to protect the CM’s chair. He said the suspension of 18 BJP MLAs was "against the law" and said his party protested to urge a probe into Rajanna’s honey-trap allegations.

Honey-trap row

The State Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna triggered a massive row when he stood up in the Legislative Assembly and claimed he was the target of "honey-trapping", and that around 48 leaders from all parties were potential fellow-targets.

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He made this claim after the issue of legislators being honey-trapped was raised by BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal who said there were rumours going around that many Congress ministers were being targeted by "organised gangs".

The matter was taken to the Supreme Court on Monday (March 24) which agreed to examine a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought direction to probe the incident of alleged honey-trapping. According to media reports, the list of those affected included judges, raising serious concerns on the ability of judges to pass fair judgments without the influence of "blackmail".