BJP takes exception to Congress' diatribe against Advani

New Delhi, Mar 26 (UNI) Taking exception to Congress's diatribe against BJP's Prime Ministerial nominee L K Advani in describing him as the 'weakest Home Minister' of the country, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu today questioned the moral right of the Congress' in questioning his commitment against fighting terror.

Talking to newspersons, Mr Naidu said the Congress' own record of fighting terror was a big suspect because of its ''short sighted'' approach followed everywhere including in the troubled states of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam as well as, Sri Lanka, but were questioning the decisions of Mr Advani and Jaswant Singh on the handling of hijack of aircraft with 160 passengers.

He said it is within the knowledge of the public that it was Congress which patronised many of the terrorist organisations ranging from LTTE in Sri Lanka, ULFA and SULFA in Assam and Khalistan movement of Bhindaranwale in Punjab. ''It was they who went soft on terror and their delay in execution of Mohammad Afzal, the convict of the Parliament attack case. The Left and Congress dominated Kerala Assembly passed a resolution seeking the release of jailed terror suspect in Coimbatore Blast case to pander to the vote bank politics,'' he added.

Mr Naidu said the the record of the NDA could be assessed by the handing of Parliament Attack case and the attack on Akshardham Mandir and Raghunath Mandir where the attackers were hunted and eliminated. ''It was in contrast with the Congress handling of the take over of Charar-e-Sharif mosque in the Kashmir valley where the terrorists were fed with biryani and other foodstuff and still had not been apprehended,'' he noted.

If they make noises against the actions of the then NDA government to save lives of innocent passengers, it would not go down well with people, he cautioned.

UNI MCN-KAS VD HT1525