Decision on Kandahar taken forcefully: Rajnath

New delhi, Apr 6 (UNI) In an effort to wriggle out the NDA on the Kandahar issue, BJP president Rajnath Singh today said it was a forced decision on the then government.

It was the Congress Party which sat on a dharna in front of the Prime Minister's Office for the release of hostages from the "clutches of the terrorists who had hijacked the plane to Kandahar, the BJP president said, while addressing the partymen on the occasion of the BJP's foundation day here.

He said the Congress was now raising this issue to divert the attention of the people who are reeling under inflation.

"Congress leaders are issuing unwarranted and irrational statements to divert the attention of the people from their failures," he said.

Mr Singh said it was a forced decision on the Vajpayee Government and "forced decisions cannot be measured with the yardstick of ethics. We have taken this discision in pain not for any vote bank politics," he added.

"We have taken this decision for the release of the innocent Indians from hijackers. The hostages were not our relatives as was in some other cases. Now the Congress should answer why the capital punishment awarded to Afzal Guru has not been implemented till date.

They are doing so for the sake of vote banks. Can they explain the forced circumstances for not executing Afzal. Policies of the Congress always abeted terrorism for petty political gains," he said.

UNI KAS LPB BST1955