Shimla, Sep 21 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday alleged that the "phones of MLAs of opposition party are being tapped" in the state and sought a clarification from Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

"If it is true, a new tradition has been started in the state and this should not be allowed," he said, adding the CM did not speak a word on this when asked about it.

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He said phones of only criminal elements are tapped and that too with the permission from the home ministry.

"As per my information, phones of MLAs of opposition party are being tapped in the state till late night," he told reporters here.

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Referring to the white paper on financial condition of the state presented by the Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on Thursday, he said if the Sukhu government was serious on the financial situation, they should have also given the details about the situation under three previous governments in the white paper.

This white paper move is political motivated, he said.

There was a loan of Rs 50,000 crore when we took over the state in 2017, he said, adding the loan taken in five years of the previous BJP government was less than the loan taken by the Congress government (2012-17).

Law and order has deteriorated in the past nine months of Congress rule, he alleged.

An unfortunate incident was reported in Jogindernagar where a Congress leader considered close to the chief minister allegedly barged into the office of Superintending Engineer (SE) of Public Works Department along with his supporters, locked the door and threw water and threatened him for issuing orders of a subdivisional officer (SDO) without his consent, he said.

An FIR has been registered in this regard, he said and asked whether the CM would take any action against the accused.

Earlier, the chief minister had stated that misbehavior with the government officers and employees would not be tolerated whatever be the political affiliation of the victim, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)