Sonia must apologise for her remarks: Advani

Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Monday demanded an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi for her statement that India was in greater danger from people inside than foreign terrorists, which he said was an implied attack on his party.

Referring to a reported speech of Gandhi in Jharkhand, Advani said he was shocked about her remarks that 'we are in greater danger from people inside than from foreign terrorists entering India'.

He said though Gandhi did not name his party, it 'substantially accuses us and the comments were clear'.

He said in India, there has been a tradition from the past, even in the 1962 and 1965 wars when late Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri had praised the role of Jan Sangh and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

A rare exception was made in 1963 when Nehru asked the RSS to send a contingent for the Republic Day parade.

"Obviously, she does not know the history of her own party. She makes a statement of this kind. This is slander. She should apologise for this statement or join a debate on fundamentalist issues like Al Qaeda," he said addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.

Advani said Gandhi's statement flew in the face of fact in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks when there was consensus on terrorism and the government had to even come out with a law for strengthening anti-terror measures as always demanded by BJP.

With one month to go for the last phase of election, the BJP leader said it was becoming clear that the fight was between BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA, which he said was disintegrating.

"The so-called Third and Fourth Fronts were irrelevant as they were opportunists, who had no platform on their own or a common platform. The CPI-M was trying to cobble a Third Front only to fight its own growing irrelevance," he added.