Amid the row over the alleged illegal surveillance of journalists using Pegasus software, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday has alleged that the Congress wants to halt the development of the country by colluding with foreign forces.
"They brought this issue a day before Parliament was introducing development schemes for people so that there couldn't be any discussion on those. They want to halt the developmental work in the country by colluding with foreign forces. They just like to protest for the sake of it, they have no facts," he said.
Meanwhile, as per media reports a British High Commission spokesperson said: "We are not going to get into speculation around individual cases on this issue," when asked on reports of UK High Commission official was under surveillance as per 'Pegasus Project'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had outrightly rejected the allegations.
"BJP strongly refutes, condemns the baseless and bereft of political propriety comments leveled by Congress against the BJP. It is a new low for a party that has ruled India for more than 50 years," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday.
The names of over 40 Indian journalists appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware, according to a report published in The Wire on Sunday.
According to the report, the journalists who were targeted work for some news organisations in the country including Hindustan Times, The Hindu, India Today, Indian Express and Network18. Many of them cover matters related to Defence, Home Ministry, Election Commission and Kashmir among others.
However, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said there is 'no substance' in the media report regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp, adding that the report was an attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions.
( With inputs from ANI )
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