Pegasus row: Congress accuses PM of toppling Karnataka govt in 2019; demands investigation

Taking note of the purported Pegasus revelations, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah accused PM Modi of toppling the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka. French non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International accessed a leaked database of 50,000 phone numbers which were allegedly targeted by private Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group's Pegasus software. These numbers were subsequently shared with 16 media organizations across the world. 

Addressing a press briefing on Tuesday, the former Karnataka CM alleged, "Leaked data suggests that the phones of my PA Venkatesh, HD Kumaraswamy's PA, HD Deve Gowda's PA and G Parameshwara were snooped during 2019 Operation Kamala Episode. This is threat to our democracy and a criminal act by Narendra Modi. According to him, Congress and JD(S) MLAs quit after being lured by the saffron party."

Siddaramaiah added, "Such is the level BJP leaders can stoop to gain power. They are now standing naked in front of the people. Snooping its citizens is not just unconstitutional and unethical but also uncultured". He demanded that the Pegasus controversy and the Centre's role should be investigated by a high-level committee. 

Collapse of JD(S)-Congress government

While BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election, Yediyurappa had to resign merely two days after taking oath as the CM owing to his party's inability to muster a majority in the state Assembly. Kumaraswamy was sworn in as the CM on May 23, 2018, after JD(S) and Congress stitched a post-poll alliance. The infighting within the alliance intensified after BJP swept Karnataka in the 2019 General Election by winning 25 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats. 

The crisis for the coalition government commenced on July 6, 2019, when 12 legislators submitted their resignations to the Karnataka Speaker's office. Soon, the number of rebel MLAs swelled to 17 following which the then Governor Vajubhai Vala asked the government to prove its majority on the floor of the House. As a three-judge Supreme Court bench refused to compel the rebel MLAs to attend the Assembly proceedings, the JD(S)-Congress government lost the trust vote on July 23, 2019. 

The Pegasus row

As per media reports, the Pegasus spyware targeted over 300 Indian mobile numbers including that of 40 journalists, businesspersons, one constitutional authority, three opposition leaders and two sitting Ministers in the Union government. The database also allegedly contained the numbers of activists who are accused and incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case. However, the NSO Group categorically rubbished these allegations and cast doubts on the reliability of the sources.

Dismissing the claims on Monday, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Lok Sabha, "The allegation is that individuals linked to these phone numbers were being spied upon. However, the report says that: The presence of a phone number in the data does not reveal whether a device was infected with Pegasus or subject to an attempted hack. Without subjecting a phone to this technical analysis, it is not possible to conclusively state whether it witnessed an attack attempt or was successfully compromised. Therefore, the report itself clarifies that the presence of a number does not amount to snooping."