Congress sees hypocrisy behind Advani meeting Sonia

New Delhi, Mar 24 (UNI) The Congress today dismissed as "hypocrisy" the meeting of BJP leader L K Advani with its president Sonia Gandhi on Holi to present a copy of his autobiography "My country, My Life," and said, "the book was written to conceal than reveal." AICC Spokesman Abishek Manu Singhvi told mediapersons that it was nothing but hyprocrisy as Mr Advani had indulged in Congress-bashing and personalised attack (against Ms Sonia) in his self-serving book.

"There was even Congress-bashing at the book release function." When his attention was drawn to a portion of the book in which Mr Advani had stated that Ms Gandhi did not take over the Prime Ministership because of differences within the party, he wanted to know if he or former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee or any BJP leader could ever claim of sacrificing any post since 1900.

In this context, he said, the people of the country knew very well how Ms Gandhi had sacrificed the post of Prime Minister not once, but thrice. "Those who are made for power would not know this fact." Asked what transpired between Ms Gandhi and Mr Advani during their 15-minute-long meeting, Dr Singhvi said it was a private meeting and only the two leaders would be able to say anything.

Saying that a leader should always lead from the front, he cited a few portions of the book in which Mr Advani had "passed on the buck".

"Mr Advani's autobiography is based on the simple principle : whatever good happened is attributable to me and whatever went wrong is attributable to you. Better still, whatever good that did not happen is attributable to Mr Vajpayee." In this context, he cited the portions of the book relating to Kandahar plane hijack, and said it was mind-boggling that Mr Advani, who was then Home Minister, did not know that Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh was going to Afghanistan. "What type of a Home Minister was Mr Advani? This betrayed the incompetence of Mr Advani and not his virtue," Dr Singhvi said while pointing out that it had also exposed "the level of competence of the government whose Home Minister was not consulted when the country was going through one of the greatest national security crisis." Asking why Mr Advani did not protest against being kept in the dark about the Foreign minister visiting Kandahar, the spokesman, said "The book is a silence of hyprocrisy." Referring to the references about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Dr Singhvi said Mr Advani started demonstrating his love for Mr Modi only after his poll victory in 2008, though he had claimed in his book that he had stood by Mr Modi during 2004.

On Agra summit, Dr Singhvi said, "Mr Advani takes credit for what was acknowledged as a fiasco. Only self-serving Mr Advani can take credit." UNI SH PK KN1901