IT and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday strongly rebutted the allegations by former Congress President Rahul Gandhi that the Aarogya Setu app is outsourced to the private sector.

Reacting to a post by Rahul Gandhi, Prasad called it “a daily lie” and asked him to stop outsourcing his tweets instead.

“Aarogya Setu is now being appreciated globally. The App is NOT outsourced to any private operator. Mr. Gandhi really high time that you stop outsourcing your tweets to your cronies who do not understand India. Daily a new lie,” Prasad said in a series of tweets.

Without naming Rahul Gandhi, Prasad also hinted at the surveillance done during the Congress regimes in the past.

“Aarogya Setu is a powerful companion which protects people. It has a robust data security architecture. Those who indulged in surveillance all their lives, won’t know how tech can be leveraged for good!” Prasad said.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the Aarogya Setu mobile application is a “sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a private operator, with no institutional oversight”.

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, “The Aarogya Setu application is a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a private operator, with no institutional oversight — raising serious data security and privacy concerns. Technology can help keep us safe; but fear must not be leveraged to track citizens without their consent.”