Congress accuses BJP of taking political mileage by opposing Indo-Pak statement

New Delhi, July 24 (ANI): The Congress Party on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of taking political mileage from the Indo-Pak joint statement issued in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The Congress Party statement came ahead of the core committee meeting convened by its President, Sonia Gandhi, to discuss the increasing opposition to the inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement.

Chaired by Gandhi the meeting is scheduled to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Gandhi's political secretary, Ahmed Patel among others.

Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed, rubbished the BJP allegation that the inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement amounted to conceding that India was responsible for problems in the province.

On Thursday, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the inclusion of Balochistan would enable Pakistan to hold India responsible for problems in that province.

Prasad also said the joint statement would have a long-term negative impact on India's prestige in the international community.

This is the first time that Balochistan has been referred to in any joint declaration issued by both countries. (ANI)