New Delhi: BJP has questioned the Centre's decision to set up a probe panel to go into the 'Saheb' tapes in which a woman was snooped by Gujarat police apparently on orders from above.
BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said today that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was Finance Minister, was "bugged" in his South Block office. "What action did the government then take?", she asked
Lekhi alleged the Centre's action was an attempt to tarnish the image of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
"Modi was given a clean chit by a Gujarat court yesterday in the Gulbarg riots case, and now there is another attempt to divulge people's attention from the issue", she said.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley described the setting up of Commission of Inquiry into snooping issue as an "affront" to the states and the federal structure.
Jaitley said, the decision will be challenged in court as it violated the federal structure. He hoped Chief Ministers from other parties will oppose it too.
"This action legally is a suspect and liable for challenge. I am sure it will be legally challenged in courts.", he said.
Jaitley said the Congress Party has not learnt from the drubbing it got in the recent elections and has continued with its strategy of fighting Narendra Modi "not politically but through investigative agencies and now through a Commission of Inquiry".
"This action is politically motivated.... The setting up of this Commission violates the federal structure of the Constitution. It is an affront to the states. I hope other Chief Ministers also join in the protest against this action," he said on his Facebook post.
Jaitley said setting up of a parallel Commission by the Centre was legally "suspect" and was liable to be challenged in court.
"The setting up of a parallel Commission by the central government ostensibly on the pretext of this issue covering more than one state is without any basis", he said.
