BJP attacked Arjun Singh for putting blame for Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson's exit from India after Bhopal tragedy "on people who are dead".
Congress today accused BJP of "clutching on to mythical straws" for its attack on former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh on the Bhopal issue.
"BJP is in the habit of raising ghosts and then slaying them and feeling ecstatic about it... It's because BJP's bogey has been deflated, demolished and buried that they are trying to clutch on to mythical straws," party spokesperson Manish Tewari told PTI responding to BJP's criticism.
BJP attacked Singh for putting blame for Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson's exit from India after Bhopal tragedy "on people who are dead".
Singh, who made a rare appearance in Rajya Sabha to participate in a discussion on Bhopal gas tragedy, said he was informed by his chief secretary Brahm Swaroop that there were "persistent calls from home ministry officials in Delhi for granting bail to Anderson".
"Rajivji never uttered a single word on the next two days, either in support of Mr Anderson or trying to mitigate his problems," he said, adding that attaching any motive on the then prime minister would be a "figment of imagination of persons who can see nothing constructive of a person of that stature".
Unhappy with Singh's contention, leader of opposition Arun Jaitley said that the senior Congress leader was attributing blame on people who were not alive. "He has conveniently shifted the decision to release Anderson to then chief secretary who is no more and some unknown home ministry officials... Dead men tell no tale," he said.
Jaitley said if Rajiv Gandhi had no sympathy with Anderson, then why did he listen to the home ministry. "His (Arjun) statement is concealing more," he said.
Tewari however dismissed the charges saying, "When MK Rasgotra (foreign secretary during Bhopal gas tragedy) and now Arjun Singh have put it on record that the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi neither intervened nor he was informed (about Anderson's release), what else is there to say."
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