Cong ridicules BJP move to make Sidhu ''national hero''

New Delhi, Dec 7 (UNI) The Congress today ridiculed the BJP for proclaiming murder convict and its former MP Navjot Sidhu as its star campaigner in the coming elections,saying this was nothing but ''a glorification campaign for a convict.'' ''This is the BJP'S mantra to try to make an icon out of a criminal,'' Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi quipped, adding that if the ''stars of the BJP are so tainted, then what can be the level of the party, one can imagine.'' Briefing mediapersons in the Parliament precincts, he said the BJP had sought to make a ''national hero'' out of Sidhu with one party General Secretary presenting him before the media in the Parliament premises in a nationally-televised press conference and another General Secretary accompaning him to Punjab. ''This shows their approach to politics,'' he said.

The Congress spokesman also attacked the BJP for ''brazenly violating human rights on a mass scale'' in Gujarat by suppressing all evidence. Terming it a ''sordid tale of connivance, conspiracy and collussion,'' Mr Singhvi said the bodies of as many as 20 riot victims were concealed and projected as missing, until a DNA test done, following monitoring by the High Court and the CBI, revealed the truth.

''Without the conspiracy of Gujarat Government, this could not have been possible,'' Mr Singhvi said, and demanded that the entire report revealing this fact should be made public.

Quoting ''yet another instance of political hypocrisy'' of the BJP, the spokesman said the party today opposed the Bill to change the name of Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand in the Rajya Sabha today even though entire Uttaranchal Assembly, including BJP legislators, had unanimously passed a resolution earlier making this demand.

Mr Singhvi recalled that the original agitation in the State was entirely for Uttarakhand, not Uttaranchal. ''Jharkhand was originally named Vananchal, but following pressure, the BJP had agreed to change the name to Jharkhand,'' he added.

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