The Maharashtra unit of the Congress on Saturday demanded a probe into the revelations made in the alleged WhatsApp conversations between Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and recently arrested former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta.
The transcript of the messages was a part of the supplementary chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police in the Television Rating Points (TRP) case. “The chats, which are in public domain, are no longer limited to the scam. Mr. Goswami’s reference to the Balakot strike and that the Pathankot attack was breaking news on his channel 20 minutes in advance, makes it an issue of national security. We will be meeting State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to demand a high-level probe,” said State Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant.
He said the chats show former Union minister Rajvardhan Singh Rathore giving undue favours to Republic TV and the Congress has sought a reply on this from the BJP. “The chats show Mr. Goswami boasting about his closeness with the PMO, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and a person identified as AS. Both Mr. Goswami and Mr. Dasgupta were manipulating TRP,” he said.
Mr. Sawant said when Mr. Goswami was arrested, BJP leaders like Ram Kadam and Kirit Somaiya came out in his support. “The BJP must come clean and explain its role in the scam,” he said.
