Sonia reopens wounds of Kandahar, targets Advani

ROW OVER KANDAHAR: In his book Advani has written that he was not aware about the terrorist-for-passenger deal.

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New Delhi: Congress President and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has sounded the poll bugle in election-bound Rajasthan by taking a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani.

Sonia questioned how Advani could deny all knowledge of his Cabinet colleague Jaswant Singh's important role in the IC-814 hijacking episode in December 1999 that was taken to Kandahar and the then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had to release three hardcore terrorists to secure the release of the passengers and the crew members.

So in an all-out assault on the BJP's prime ministerial candidate and with elections in five states including Rajasthan due later this year, Sonia is reopening the wounds of Kandahar, underlining the divisions in the NDA camp.

"Now the then home minister of NDA says he was not aware of it. If he was not aware of it, why did this happen? What are we to understand? That the NDA prime minister did not trust him. Why so?" she asked at a rally in Rajasthan's Dungarpur on Thursday.

It's the Congress way of combating the BJP campaign on terror.

In election time, the UPA Chairperson is shrewdly exploiting the contradictory standpoints on the 1999 IC-814 hijack.

She even pointed out that the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh hasn't opened his mouth as yet.

The Congress President was referring to the CNN-IBN interview where former defence minister George Fernandes refused to buy Advani's argument that he wasn't a party to the decision to exchange terrorists for passengers in the IC-814 hijack.

In the interview given to Karan Thapar on the Devil's Advocate, Fernandes has ruled out that Advani didn't know about the terrorist-for-hostage deal.

Karan Thapar: Senior ministers decided that Jaswant Singh should accompany the terrorists? It wasn't a unilateral action taken by Jaswant Singh?

George Fernandes: Yes, I'm sure, I'm certain that was (the case).

Karan Thapar: Were you a part of that meeting?

George Fernandes: I was there, all ministers were present.

Karan Thapar: All ministers?

George Fernandes: Yes.