BJP defends Advani on Kandahar,cash-for-vote drama

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday came out in defence of its senior leader L K Advani, who has been facing attacks from party rebels on the Kandahar issue, saying this was 'wrong and uncalled for' as the hijack crisis was resolved after consulting all parties and experts.

"People accusing Advani on Kandahar is wrong and uncalled for. The issue is already resolved and it is an 11-year old story. The government of the day took every party into confidence and, after the security experts' advice, acted in a way best suited for the time," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

"I think there should be no controversy about that. 'Tu-tu main main' (blame game) on that is a very bad thing. We stoutly decry the attack on Advani," he added.

The BJP's reaction on the issue came a day after senior leader Yashwant Sinha and former National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra categorically stated that Advani was very much a part of the National Democratic Alliance government's decision to release the three terrorists and to send the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh to Kandahar for securing the release of the hostages. Jaswant had said earlier that Advani was aware of the decision.

"Some people who were part of the decision-making process are now trying to blame Advani, which is completely wrong. Nobody will accept it," Javadekar said.

Asked about comments made by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat today, asking the BJP to put its house in order, Javadekar claimed the party will emerge stronger from this crisis. "We are very happy and we are very confident that the BJP will emerge victorious and stronger in the days to come," he said.

The party also countered expelled leader Jaswant Singh's contention that the cash-for-vote sting operation was orchestrated by the party and said its Members of Parliament had only co-operated with a news channel to expose the corrupt practice.

"The charges of Jaswant Singh in a magazine suggest that the cash-for-vote was a BJP orchestrated campaign. We stoutly deny that. It was a campaign organised by the ruling party and its allies," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

"It was a sting operation carried out to expose this deal by one news channel in which our brave MPs definitely co-operated with the channel. Had it been telecast when the trust vote was being discussed, there would have been a different result of it. But unfortunately it could not be relayed that day," he explained.

Javadekar said charging the BJP of 'stage-managing' the operation is 'entirely wrong'. Three BJP Members of Parliament, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Ashok Argal and Mahavir Bhagora, had waved cash worth Rs one crore in the Lok Sabha during the trust vote on July 22 last year and alleged that the money was offered to them as bribe to vote in favour of the United Progressive Alliance.

They had alleged that Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh had offered them the money. Jaswant Singh has told a weekly magazine that senior BJP leader L K Advani's political aide, Sudheendhra Kulkarni, masterminded the sting operation.