BJP sends legal notice over cyber theft, Congress to give ‘befitting reply’ (Second Lead)
By IANSSunday, October 3, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday said it has sent a legal notice to the Congress party over the alleged theft of its online identity, but the Congress termed the accusation “sensationalism and distortion” and said it will give a befitting reply.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said Sunday that the party had sent a legal notice to the Congress over “petty theft” of its online identity.
She said that a portal with the party’s acronym and no clear ownership identity was diverting users to the Congress website.
The BJP spokesperson said the notice was delivered at the Congress office Sep 27, but there had been no official response from the party.
She said a website, https://www.bjp.com, was automatically diverting users to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) website.
The BJP website, https://bjp.org, had been running for over a decade, she said, adding that “ownership of bjp.com was masked” and it links the user to the Congress website.
The BJP spokesperson said the party had sought to find ownership details on the relevant search engines. The details referred to Bharat Journals and Publications and two US telephone numbers, which were linked to an answering machine.
“Technically such an entity should be selling some journals, but the site takes you to the AICC website,” Sitharaman said.
“This is deceitful… low-level, pick-pocket type… We apprehend Congress hand,” she said, adding that the attempt could also be to say things that are not true of the BJP.
Answering queries about the BJP accusation, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who also heads the party’s legal department, said that no legal notice had been brought to his attention.
“As of now, no such notice had been brought to my attention. If and when it is received, we will give a befitting reply to such sensationalism and distortion. It is laughable to suggest that Congress should seek to copy the BJP website,” Singhvi said.
“Given the electorate’s rejection of the BJP and our connectivity and popularity in India, most people believe it should be the other way round,” he added.
