Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national general secretary Nara Lokesh on Thursday denied that the TDP government had purchased spyware when it was in power in the State.
Pegasus did offer its spyware to Andhra Pradesh, but we had rejected it, Mr. Lokesh made it clear. Had we made the purchase, there would be a record of it, Mr. Lokesh added. He further said that the TDP government had never resorted to illegal phone tapping.
Mr. Lokesh was reacting to a statement allegedly made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the Chandrababu Naidu government had purchased the Pegasus spyware.
“She is misinformed. Had we resorted to such activities, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would not have won the 2019 elections,” Mr. Lokesh, who was the IT Minister in the Naidu government, said.
“I have no idea whether Ms. Banerjee made a statement to this effect or not, and in which context. But if she did, then she is misinformed,” Mr. Lokesh said, and added that Mr. Naidu would never indulge in such illegal acts.
“Had we resorted to it, would the YSRCP government spare us?” Mr. Lokesh asked, and added that the YSRCP had tried every trick in the book in the last three years “to fix us, but we emerged unscathed every time as we did no wrong.”
