Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Nov 24: BJP leaders including former chief minister, Jagadish Shettar, have repeated their earlier allegation that the state government has been tapping the telephones of leading politicians and bureaucrats in important positions.

Shettar, speaking at a press meet at Vidhana Soudha on Friday November 23, observed that the coalition government is suffering from a sense of instability. He said that the main purpose for tapping the phones is to find out whether any politicians and officials are teaming and scheming against the government. He demanded an independent investigation into these allegations.

Jagadish Shettar and R Ashok

Jagadish Shettar said that whenever he receives a call over phone and begins to speak, he hears some strange sound. On enquiry, he said, he was given to understand that the sound indicates that his phone was being tapped.

Former state deputy chief minister, R Ashok, who also addressed the media persons, said that the leaders of the coalition parties are always on tenterhooks, suspecting prospects of Operation Lotus in the state. He stated the phones of coalition government's coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah, leader of the opposition, B S Yeddyurappa, and some JD(S) legislators were being tapped. He also asserted that he was in possession of concrete information about phone tapping.