Monday, January 2 2006 20:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council today (Jan 2, 2006) passed a censure motion against alleged phone tapping of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, terming it as infringement on right to privacy.

Raising the matter in the Zero Hour, Yagya Dutt Sharma of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) termed phone tapping a conspiracy to create hurdles in the democratic process.

"Ironically it is a conspiracy between the two political parties extending support to each other at the centre and state," Sharma said.

Giving a detailed account of the phone tapping, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav termed it as a conspiracy to topple his Government.

Now efforts were underway to hide the facts, he said, adding that "The phone tapping is not being done at the behest of the prime minister, home minister, defense minister or the police commissioner and they were not even aware of it."

"Phone tapping has been ordered from the highest level," he said without taking names.

Making a revelation, Yadav said that he was not interested in forming the Government and had wanted fresh elections but had done so in keeping with the wishes of a senior leader who has now joined BJP.

After the Chief Minister's statement, Om Prakash Sharma of the teachers group moved a censure notice saying that phone tapping in democracy was an infringement on the right to privacy and needed to be condemned. The motion was passed by a voice vote.