BJP: Chewing gum theory a big joke

She sought to know if the government itself was spying on its Finance Minister or was it the handiwork of a corporate house.

The opposition BJP continued to raise questions about the alleged security breach in Pranab Mukherjees office with Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday dubbing the chewing gum theory as a big joke. She sought to know if the government itself was spying on its Finance Minister or was it the handiwork of a corporate house.

While the BJP found one more issue to target Congress and promptly added it to its armory,sensing the issue has the potential to project the UPA as divided,Mukherjee said all these are bogus things and asked media not to waste its time on it.

Swaraj said the FM must know the difference between adhesive and chewing gum. The chewing gum theory of the IB is a big joke…Before giving such a childish argument,the IB should have realised the country would laugh at it… As far as the allegation is concerned,it raises two questions… if the spying was being done against the Finance Minister by government itself or by any corporate house, she said.

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In both situations,Swaraj said,it was a serious issue. If the government has done it,it is a reflection of the growing distrust between ministers of this government, she said. With Mukherjee playing down the issue,BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar sought to know why he had written to the PM after the CBDT investigation and why he is now backtracking and terming the issue as being nothing serious.

We would like to know why he ordered a private investigation through CBDT,instead of calling for a probe by agencies under Home,and what were the findings of the CBDT investigation, he said,adding that the nation was not satisfied with the finance ministers U-turn on such a serious issue.