Hopeful of IT panel taking up Pegasus issue, says Shashi Tharoor

ALTHOUGH THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology could not take up a discussion on the Pegasus snooping issue at its last meeting after BJP members on the panel blocked proceedings of the meeting citing lack of quorum, panel chairman Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said he was hopeful that the committee will take up the issue going forward.

The last meeting on July 28 also saw, what Tharoor calls, “last minute refusal” by representatives of three ministries to attend it. Tharoor has since then written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, asking him to take “serious cognizance” of the matter and called the conduct of the officials “unprecedented”, “breach of parliamentary privilege” and “contempt of the House”.