After West Bengal chief minister Mamatha Benerji levelled the allegation that AP government with Chandrababu Naidu as chief minister had purchased the Pegasus spyware, the Assembly had an extensive debate on the issue on Monday.

The house took up discussion on the motion moved by chief whip G Srikanth Reddy in which several MLAs and Ministers Buggana Rajendranath, Kurasala Kanna Babu and others participated. They alleged that the TDP government had indulged in misuse of peoples’ information for its political gains.

Though then IT minister Nara Lokesh and former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu denied the allegation, the Ministers and MLAs in the House wanted a thorough enquiry into the issue. They also wanted the use of the Real Time Governance Society (RTGS) by the TDP government to be probed.

The Ministers alleged that the TDP had conducted surveys in the state on peoples’ satisfaction over the government programmes. The government collected the data wherever people expressed displeasure and sent the data to the TDP office. The TDP in office had sent the names for deletion from the voter list, the ministers said.

However, the YSR Congress had intervened timely and stopped the TDP’s ploy and thus saved the state from the TDP’s conspiracy. The Ministers also recalled that a case was registered and some people were arrested in connection with the misuse of peoples’ information by the TDP government in those days.

Speaker Thammineni Sitharam announced the constitution of a house committee to probe into the allegation. He said he would announce the names of the members in the house committee at a later date. The committee will probe into the Pegasus spyware use and the misuse of public information by the TDP before the 2019 general elections.