Aam Aadmi Party leader, Sanjay Singh, has asked the Centre’s Modi government if it was snooping on its political rivals.
Reacting to the leaked audio conversations of Bhagwant Mann, AAP MP from Punjab, Singh told ANI, “Such edited audio and video clips are nothing new. People are not interested in all this. Both Bhagwant Mann and Dharamvir Gandhi (expelled AAP leader) have denied that they released the audio clip. Then is Modi Govt recording conversations?”
Supreme Court lawyer and senior AAP leader, HS Phoolka, said there was no need to read too much into this conversation as it was just a private conversation between two individuals.
Bhagwant Mann audio: It's a private talk with a colleague. In politics,this kind of alignment within party is common. Not any serious matter
— H S Phoolka (@hsphoolka) September 7, 2015
Jantakareporter.com had carried an audio clip believed to be of Aam Aadmi Party MP, Bhagwant Mann on Sunday.
In the 2.51 min clip, Mann appears to be in conversation with the expelled AAP MP from Patiala, Dr Dharmavir Gandhi.
The entire conversation is in Punjabi language and Mann is heard claiming his victory in Loksabha elections was because of his own celebrity status.
He says, “I’ve won because of my own personality. Why have others not won? We are the real winners and we are also the winners of Delhi. I’ve been a celebrity for 20 years.”
Gandhi though confirmed the authenticity of this conversation but denied that the audio was leaked by him. According to Punjab Kesri newspaper, Gandhi blamed a ‘government agency’ for both recording this conversation and leaking it subsequently.
Jantakareporter.com made several attempts to contact Mann, but he was unavailable for comments.
The Public Affairs Committee of AAP last month had announced it was suspending two of its MPs from Punjab for indulging in anti-party activities. The two suspended MPs were Dharamavira Gandhi and Harinder Singh Khalsa.
The PAC suspended both of them from the primary membership of the party before recommending disciplinary proceedings against them to party’s National Disciplinary Action Committee.