Never availed Pegasus services during my tenure, says former Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

Maharashtra’s former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday while addressing the major Pegasus row— which has sparked a major controversy— refuted all the allegations regarding the spyware issue and countered that it was decided by the Opposition at the Center.

During a press conference, the leader of opposition in Maharashtra highlighted that Pegasus mentions 45 countries but India is at the center of discussion.

“This is a conspiracy to discredit Indian democracy by spreading such news on the eve of the Parliament session. It is noticed that whenever India moves forward, some people try to discredit the country for different interests,” he said.

“Recently there was news that some media outlets received funding from China and were campaigning against India. Therefore, the Government of India made important provisions through the Telegraph Act,” Fadnavis added.

Targetting the opposition at Centre, Fadnavis alleged that the opposition is trying to derail it. “With the strategy of derailing this convention, the work of the convention is being hampered by spreading fabricated news,” he said

Terming the allegations as baseless, Fadnavis said, “During my tenure as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, we had never availed the services of NSO.” NSO Group is the Israeli firm behind the spyware Pegasus.