THE Opposition on Wednesday hardened its stand on the Pegasus spyware issue with 14 parties unitedly demanding a debate in Parliament in the presence of the Prime Minister or the Home Minister and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter. Meanwhile, asserting that preventing a possible third wave of COVID-19 is the biggest issue now, the BJP hit out at Opposition parties on Wednesday for disrupting Parliament proceedings over “manufactured” matters like the Pegasus snooping and claimed it was “anti-national” to not discuss the pandemic in both the Houses. The BJP also made light of the unity among Opposition parties against the Narendra Modi Government, saying, they were united earlier too and the main motivation of these parties, from the Congress to several regional ones, was to protect their “family interests”.

 

On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains committed to the nation’s development, it said. Earlier in the day, leaders of various Opposition parties met and decided to submit similar adjournment notices on the matter. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting of 14 Opposition parties. The Trinamool Congress was not present. “The Opposition is united for a discussion on the Pegasus issue. We are not going anywhere till it is discussed in Parliament,” Gandhi told reporters in the presence of leaders of 13 other Opposition parties. He also rejected the Government’s charges over the disruption of Parliament and said that the Opposition was only fulfilling its responsibility.