Vijayawada: Lokesh denies TDP govt bought Pegasus spyware

Vijayawada: TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh denied allegations that the their government purchased spyware. "We never indulged in any illegal phone tapping," he said here on Thursday reacting to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's purported claim to the effect. However, Israel offered the spyware to AP but the TDP government rejected it, he further added.

"If only we had Pegasus spyware, Jagan Mohan Reddy would have been fixed long back," he said.

Reacting to Mamata Banerjee's claim that the previous Chandrababu Naidu government purchased the Pegasus spyware, Lokesh retorted, "She was misinformed. If we had resorted to such things, Jagan Mohan Reddy would not have come to power in 2019".

"I don't know whether she has indeed said that, and where and in which context. If she did say that, she is certainly misinformed," Lokesh, who was the then minister for information technology in his father Chandrababu's Cabinet, observed. Chandrababu would never indulge in such illegal acts, he asserted.

"If there had been any such thing, would the (current) Jagan regime spare us? In the last three years, they have tried every trick to fix us in one thing or the other but failed, because we did nothing wrong," the TDP MLC maintained. "If indeed we had Pegasus, Jagan would not have gone scot-free despite all his atrocious acts," Lokesh asserted.

Nara Lokesh further said that immediately after coming to power, Jagan Mohan Reddy had got all files in the IT and all other departments inspected thoroughly. He would have taken action if any illegal act was found.

Lokesh pointed out that the Chandrababu regime passed such a trustworthy and transparent CRDA law that had emerged victorious now. The YSRCP government had no clarity on the AP Capital but the TDP had a clear cut policy which would always be 'One State One Capital'.