AP House forms panel to probe Pegasus charge against TDP govt

A six-member House committee was constituted by assembly speaker Tammineni Seetharam on Friday to probe into the allegations of procurement of Pegasus spyware by the previous Chandrababu Naidu government to snoop on his political rivals.

Headed by senior YSR Congress (YSRC) party lawmaker from Tirupati assembly constituency Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, the panel will also include: Abbayya Chowdary, Kolusu Parthasarathy, G Amarnath, Merugu Nararjuna and Maddali Giridhar.

Based on the information available with the government, the committee will inquire the alleged methods adopted by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government to tap the telephones of its political rivals. Following the probe, the report will be submitted before the state assembly.

On Monday, the state assembly had discussed West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent statements that in 2017, the then TDP government had procured the Pegasus spyware from the Israel company NSO Group, while her government had rejected the same.

The YSRC lawmakers had demanded a comprehensive probe into the alleged purchase of spyware. Finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy also pointed out that former state intelligence chief A B Venkateshwara Rao had visited Israel twice in 2017, allegedly to procure the surveillance systems via a firm owned by his son. Following the demand from the YSRC, Seetharam had announced constitution of the committee to probe the allegations.

“Our party is ready to face any inquiry, whether it is a house committee or the CBI,” said TDP general secretary and former information technology minister during the TDP regime Nara Lokesh .

In another development, the state assembly was on Friday adjourned sine die after adopting the appropriation bill for 2022-23. Winding up the discussion on the bill, chief minister (CM) Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said the successful implementation of the welfare schemes was the hallmark of his government in the last three years.

Describing the 2022-23 budget as people’s budget, the CM said his government had implemented 95% pre-poll promises during his regime, despite a drastic fall in revenues due to Covid-19.

He said, “ ₹55,000 crore has been credited in the accounts of beneficiaries under direct benefit transfer schemes and another ₹17,305 crore was spent on other welfare schemes in the current financial year.”

Later, the CM released the welfare calendar for 2022-2023, stressing that the government is implementing multiple schemes and programmes for the welfare and development of all the sections of the society.