LS adjourned for the day amid ruckus

The Lok Sabha faced repeated disruptions on the first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday and was finally adjourned for the day, as the Opposition sought to corner the government over several issues, including rising petroleum prices and the alleged phone tapping issue.
The lower House faced ruckus created by the Opposition since it assembled at 11 a.m.

Despite Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's repeated efforts to continue the functioning of the House, MPs from opposition parties gathered near the Speaker's podium and continued sloganeering against the government .

After two back to back adjournments following the ruckus, the Speaker finally adjourned the House for the day after new IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw gave a detailed statement over the phone tapping issue.

Vaishnaw said: "A highly sensational story was published by a web portal last night. Many over-the-top allegations made around this story. The press reports appeared a day before the Monsoon Session of Parliament. This can't be a coincidence."

Noting that in the past similar claims were made regarding use of Pegasus on WhatsApp, he said: "Those reports had no factual basis and were denied by all parties. Press reports of July 18 also appear to be an attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions."

The issue triggered a stormy start to the Monsoon Session after a global collaborative investigative project revealed that Israeli company NSO Groups' Pegasus spyware was targeted over 300 mobile phone numbers in India including that of two ministers in the Narendra Modi government, three Opposition leaders, constitutional authority, several journalist and business persons.-IANS