Sonia targets Advani, says Atal didn't trust him

TAKING ADVANTAGE: Sonia has hinted at the fact that Vajpayee (L) didn't trust his home minister, L K Advani (R).

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New Delhi: The relationship between the Congress and the BJP shows no signs of improvement. The further deterioration was evident after Congress President Sonia Gandhi delivered a new salvo at the Opposition on Thursday.

This time, the leader under fire was BJP's prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani.

Sonia Gandhi questioned Advani's statement that he was not not aware of the decision to send his cabinet colleague — the then external affairs minister, Jaswant Singh — on the plane with dreaded terrorists to Kandahar.

She said she wondered whether Advani was not trusted by the then prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on the issue.

"Now the then home minister (L K Advani) of NDA says he was not aware of that Jaswant Singh would accompany terrorists. If he was not aware of it, why did this happen?" she questioned.

"What are we to understand? That the NDA Prime Minister did not not trust him. Why so?," she asked at a public meeting in Rajasthan's Dungarpur district. Sonia Gandhi was in the area for a short visit to the pilgrim centre for tribals.

The latest attack came after Sonia Gandhi picked up on the contradictory statements from the NDA camp on the issue.

She was referring to former defence minister George Fernandes' statement that Advani was in the know of the Kandahar decision.

Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN last week, Fernandes had stated that Advani was party to the decision of Jaswant Singh accompanying the terrorists and that "Advani might be mistaken in his recollection when he says he was not consulted and didn't know".

Sonia Gandhi also wanted to know why Jaswant Singh was not breaking his silence on the issue.