Now BJP, JD(S) leaders accuse CM of tapping their phones

Bengaluru, Mar 3: At a time when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is trying to wriggle out of the watch controversy, the Opposition BJP and the JD(S) fired another salvo on Wednesday, by accusing him of phone-tapping.

JD(S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was the first to take on Mr. Siddaramaiah, alleged that his phones were under surveillance after he started tracing the origin of the expensive watch.

Earlier, the State government had been accused of tapping phones of D.V. Sadananda Gowda, the then Railway Minister, in 2014 through the State police. It was alleged that the Union Minister's phone was tapped following Mr. Siddaramaiah's instruction.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar also accused Mr. Siddaramaiah of tapping phones.

Mr. Kumaraswamy told presspersons that he would have got details of persons who were pressurising Sudhakara Shetty — from whose residence a few expensive watches were stolen — if his phone had not been tapped.

Stating that the phones of many political leaders were under surveillance since the day the Congress came to power in the State, Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that the surveillance intensified after he raised the watch issue in public. “Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in charge of Karnataka in 2014, cautioned me against calling him from my official number,” he recalled.

“If this is the watch gifted by Girish Chandra Varma, the police have to locate the expensive watches stolen from Mr. Shetty's house,” he said, while suspecting that there was something fishy in the disclosure of Mr. Siddaramaiah.

Stating that the JD(S) would decide its future course of action after discussing with its legislators, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he would also hold talks with Mr. Shettar.