Cong, Left favour clemency for Afzal: BJP

Chennai, Oct 13 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today expressed shock over ''positive signals'' being sent by the Congress and the Left parties regarding the campaign in favour of giving clemency to Mohamed Afzal Guru, awarded death sentence in the Parliament attack case.

In a statement here, former party President M Venkaiah Naidu said ''no grounds for clemency have been made out,'' and declared that the party would launch a nation-wide campaign from October 20, demanding the hanging of Afzal Guru, as per the Supreme Court's order.

He said the country was astonished at the ''silence'' of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the death sentence to Afzal, convicted in the attack on Parliament, which resulted in the death of 11 police personnel.

Mr Naidu said the convict himself had no signs of remorse and had not submitted the clemency petition, probably feeling that he should not submit himself to the constitution of India.

''Those without a sense of remorse can never be considered for clemency. What kind of signals would the Indian state give if clemency is shown to those who are guilty of such heinous offences,'' he asked.

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