West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamatha Benerji had alleged that AP government during Chandrababu Naidu regime had purchased Pegasus spyware. She made this comment in the West Bengal Assembly.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and his son and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh have denied, separately. Lokesh was the minister for IT during the TDP regime when Chandrababu Naidu was chief minister. The TDP also circulated a reply from the State police under right to information that Pegasus was never purchased by the State government.

However, Mamatha Benerji’s allegation is widely circulated in state politics, with the ruling YSR Congress asking for a probe.

It is everyone’s knowledge that Mamatha Benerji was a good friend of Chandrababu Naidu for several years. They rallied together before the 2019 general election against BJP and Narendra Modi. While this being fact, one wonders why did Mamatha make such an allegation against her friend?

The answer is the role of political strategist Prashant Kishore, who is currently working with Mamatha Benerji in West Bengal politics. PK, as the strategist is known, had earlier worked for YSR Congress party and its chief Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Thus Chandrababu Naidu is the rival to Jagan Mohan Reddy and to Prashant Kishore too and now being a friend of Mamatha, it is alleged that PK had prompted Mamatha to make the allegation against Chandrababu Naidu.

While it is not known how far this charge is correct, the political circles in AP are discussing the issue widely. Everything is fair in love and war. So is politics where everything is fair. Even a baseless allegation against the rival is fair in politics.