I stood up for colleague: Jaswant on Advani

Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh has invoked the battle scene in the Hindu epic Mahabharata to defend his "covering up" for Leader of Opposition L K Advani during the election campaign, when he had said that the former home minister did not know that he was going with three terrorists in a plane to Kandahar.

"Ashwathama -- narowa, kunjarowa," said Singh quoting the famous remarks from the battlefield scene of the epic which Dharmaraj Yudishtar said to Dronacharya suggesting the death of his son Ashwathama, but suppressing the fact that it was actually an elephant with the same name that had died.

Asked if he regretted that he had "covered up" for Advani, Singh shot back saying: "No, not at all. This is great difficulty. I said it in the House also."

He said he did not regret because he found it necessary to stand up for a colleague.

"I spent my early grounding as a soldier. It is the nation first, always and every time, your colleagues next always and every time, and your own personal good last always and every time.

"I am a lover of horses. I have grown with horses. You first have to go and groom the animal, water it, feed it and only then look after yourself. The colleague was in difficulty, so I stood up for a colleague. I don't think I have committed any wrong," he said.