Pegasus Spyware: 'Will Rahul Gandhi apologise now', asks BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad

New Delhi, August 25: After a Supreme Court bench observed that the 29 phones that were submitted to an expert panel, did not have Pegasus spyware in them, the ruling government party, BJP on Thursday launched scathing attacks against Congress and questioned the latter if they would issue an apology.

Former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad lashed out at Congress party and said that the Supreme Court did not find any conclusive evidence of Pegasus spyware in any of the 29 phones submitted to one of its apex panels. He then proceeded to question if the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will now issue an apology since he had said that Pegasus was an attempt to crush democracy.

While speaking at the BJP headquarters, the senior BJP leader said, "If you (Congress) want to oppose us, then do that in elections. But there you are losing one election after another and their defeat will continue in the coming days as well."

Ravi Shankar Prasad echoed the statement of a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana which stated that 29 phones were examined and malware was found in five of them, but there's no conclusive proof of Pegasus spyware in them. The court, however, also has stated that the Indian government did not cooperate in its probe.

The top court said the report is submitted in three parts - two reports of the technical committee and one report of the overseeing committee by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice RV Raveendran.

At the media briefing, Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that the Pegasus spyware allegations were a follow-up after the Congress raised the issue on Rafale deal, followed by the Central Vista project. The senior leader said that the Congress party and other civil societies which cried foul over Pegasus have animosity against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prasad said that the Congress has no authority to preach to BJP on snooping, while referring to the 'Chewing gum' gate of 2011. "I am very sorry to refer to former finance minister Pranab Mukerjee, whose office was bugged by the Congress. It was known as the chewing gum gate. Remember?"