Congress counters telephone tapping allegation

New Delhi, July 11 (UNI) The Congress today denied the allegation of telephone tapping of senior BJP leaders involved in the presidential election campaign, and countered it by alleging that official telephones of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was being "misused" to canvass for his candidature in the July 19 poll.

"Why should we tap their telephones...What is there to tap...Why should we waste our resources for it," asked Union Minister Renuka Chowdhary at the routine briefing at the AICC headquarters here.

She said the allegation of phone tapping was raised as part of the "BJP tactics" as part of the Opposition party's effort to malign the government in the run up to the presidential elections because of the sure success of UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil.

In this context, Ms Chowdhary said calls were made to MPs and other members of the electoral college from the official telephones provided to Mr Shekhawat in his capacity as the Vice-President.

Earlier, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj charged the UPA government with tapping the telephones of key NDA leaders, and said the Opposition parties would ask the Election Commission to ensure that such ''unhealthy practices'' were not adopted in presidential election.

UNI