Vice President candidate Margaret Alva invokes ‘Big Brother’ analogy to allege phone tapping; BJP says ‘childish’

New Delhi: Margaret Alva, Opposition’s joint candidate for the post of Vice President, on Tuesday alleged that her phone was being tapped, saying that all MPs and political leaders were under the “fear that ‘Big Brother’ is always watching and listening”. “The fear that ‘Big Brother’ is always watching & listening permeates all conversations between politicians across party lines in ‘new’ India. MPs & leaders of parties carry multiple phones, frequently change numbers & talk in hushed whispers when they meet. Fear kills democracy,” Alva tweeted. Rubbishing her allegations as “childish”, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said there was no need to tap her phone when ruling dispensation was “confident about the result of the VP election”. “Why should anybody tap her phone? Let her call anybody, we’re confident about what the result of the VP election will be. Why should we do this? These are childish allegations. She’s a senior person & she should not make such allegations,” Joshi tweeted. Earlier, on 24 July, Margaret Alva had suggested that her calls were being “diverted” after she had spoken to “some friends in the BJP” and that she was “unable to make or receive calls”. “Dear BSNL/MTNL, After speaking to some friends in the BJP today, all calls to my mobile are being diverted & I’m unable to make or receive calls. If you restore the phone. I promise not to call any MP from the BJP, TMC or BJD tonight…,” she had tweeted. Given this background, a light banter too had broken out between BJP leader and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Margaret Alva. Sarma had tweeted that Margaret Alva had called him up and that he had “politely told her that I’m not a member of the electoral college. As such I have no role in the election of the Vice President of India.” In response, Alva had retorted that while she knew what constituted the electoral college after “30 yrs. in Parliament”, she had a “nice chat”. “As part of my campaign for VP, I’m reaching out to leaders from across political parties. Mr Sarma is an old friend & we’ve worked together long enough for him to know that after 30 yrs. in Parliament, I know what constitutes the electoral college. We had a nice chat though!” Meanwhile, ANI quoted sources in the Ministry of Telecom that BSNL has filed an FIR in the matter and that appropriate action has been taken in the complaint filed by Margaret Alva. (With inputs from agencies) Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.