Congress and BJP in spat over hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict

New Delhi, July 9 (ANI): The war of words between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the delay in hanging Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru continued on Friday with senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad condemning the statement of Congress about BJP President Nitin Gadkari.

"The statement of Congress spokesperson about BJP President Nitin Gadkari is shameful, discourtesies and unfortunate and I condemn it. What Gadkari said is reflection of agony of this country and agony of the families of those killed by militants in this country. Is it not true that mercy petition of Afzal Guru was held up for four years," said Prasad.

"Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit has publicly acknowledged that the then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had asked her to sit on that file. The file is still pending. It is insult to the martyrs, policemen and watch and ward staff of Parliament who lost their lives while defending the country," he added.

The BJP leader also questioned the logic of resuming the dialogue process with Pakistan, if it continued to back the militants.

"Recently (foreign) secretary-level talks took place, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram visited Pakistan. Leaders of Pakistan had assured that action will be taken against militants," said Prasad.

"Then what is happening, why is it happening and if situation is like this why the dialogue process was resumed? We would like to ask the Prime Minister," he added.

The Congress on Friday criticized Gadkari for taunting it over the delay in hanging Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

"It is very obvious that Gadkari has lost his mind completely. The BJP should take pity on him and deposit him into a psychiatric facility. The man needs serious help," said Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari.

"The remark smacks of obscenity, obnoxiousness and obtuseness," he added.

"This is a very disgraceful statement. This has once again proved that Gadkari is not mature enough to be the president of a national party," said party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed.

On Thursday, Gadkari had asked the Centre to stop treating Afzal Guru as the son-in-law of the Congress party.

Gadkari said: "I want to ask the Congress leaders if Afzal Guru is their son-in-law. It is a party full of fearful people. They can never fight with terrorists and can never get rid of terrorism. It is a party which will bow down in front of terrorists and can never protect India."

Afzal was awarded the death sentence by a Delhi court on December 18, 2002 after being convicted of conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001, waging war against the country and committing murder.

Delhi High Court upheld the death sentence on October 29, 2003 and the Supreme Court rejected his appeal two years later on August four, 2005.

Following this, Afzal filed a mercy petition with the President, who forwarded it to Union Home Ministry for its comments.

The 2001 Parliament attack, led to the death of a dozen people; five terrorists, six policemen and a civilian. (ANI)