The Bengal Chief Minister disclosed in the Assembly on Wednesday that her government was offered Pegasus spyware which she rejected as it had the potential to infringe on the privacy of the people.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee revealed that her government had been offered the controversial Pegasus spyware, providing more details on Thursday, saying the state police had to sell controversial Israeli spyware at least four to five years ago. was contacted with the offer. 25 crores only.
The Chief Minister said that when he came to know about this, he turned it down.
Banerjee also alleged that instead of using spyware to protect the country, it was used by the central government, which she claimed was for “political” reasons against judges and officials.
However, the Telugu Desam Party on Wednesday refuted the claim made by him that the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had bought the spyware during his tenure.
“They (NSO, the company that developed Pegasus) had approached everyone to sell their goods. They also approached our police four-five years ago and offered to sell it for Rs 25 crore. I know But I said we didn’t need it,” Banerjee said at the state secretariat.
He alleged, “If it was used for the benefit of the country or for security reasons it was a completely different matter, but it was used for political purposes, against judges, officials, which is not welcome at all.” “
The Bengal Chief Minister disclosed in the Assembly on Wednesday that her government was offered Pegasus spyware which she rejected as it had the potential to infringe on the privacy of the people.
During his disclosures in the assembly, the agitated leader had also claimed that the Andhra government “had it in Chandrababu’s (Naidu) time”.
However, the Telugu Desam Party denied the claim and said that the Chandrababu Naidu government has not made any such purchases.
“We have never bought any spyware. We have never indulged in any illegal phone tapping,” Telugu Desam Party general secretary Nara Lokesh said here on Thursday.
Responding to Banerjee’s claim that the previous Chandrababu Naidu government had bought Pegasus spyware, Lokesh, who was information technology minister in her father Chandrababu’s cabinet, said, “I don’t know if he actually said this, and where. And in what context if he has said so, he has certainly been misinformed.”
However, he said the software was offered to the state government.
“Yes, Pegasus also offered to sell its spyware to the Andhra Pradesh government, but we rejected it,” Lokesh said.
He said that if the government had bought spyware, it would have had a record.
An international media association reported last year that more than 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were included in the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.
A New York Times report earlier this year claimed that India had bought Pegasus spyware in 2017 as part of a USD 2 billion defense deal with Israel, sparking a major controversy with the opposition. which alleged that the government had engaged in illegal espionage for “treason”.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing several petitions alleging misuse of this spyware in India.
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