'Your phones are on radar': Maharashtra BJP minister to party members

Nagpur: Revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule stirred a controversy on Friday when he warned BJP workers that their mobile phones and WhatsApp groups are ‘under surveillance', before issuing a clarification later in the day (see box). He urged workers to avoid reckless remarks or actions that could damage the party's image before the upcoming local body polls. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut reacted quickly, calling the minister's statement a breach of privacy and law, and demanded his immediate arrest under the Indian Telegraph Act. He questioned whether the BJP is using Pegasus-like spyware to monitor the social media of its own party workers. He further claimed that the BJP's IT cell and a few agencies in Nagpur have set up a war room to conduct surveillance on political opponent