BJP seeks PM's clarification on Batla house encounter

The BJP today said contradictory statements by Congress leaders on the Batla encounter were dangerous for internal security and demanded a clarification from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.

"The Prime Minister should clarify whether Union Home Minister Chidambaram is correct or party general secretary Digvijay Singh.

"The state of confusion over the issue of terrorism is dangerous for country's internal security," BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters here.

On January 12, Chidambaram had said the 2008 gunfight between security forces and terrorists was genuine, leaving no scope for reopening the case.

Digvijay Singh had earlier said the Batla House encounter was fake.

Naqvi said if the Congress considered Digvijay's statement as his personal opinion, then the party should clarify its opinion on the issue.

Accusing Congress, SP and BSP of indulging in shadow boxing, he said the so-called champions of secularism were trying to hide the issue of corruption behind a curtain of casteism and religion.

"Contradictory statements on Batla House, earmarking 4.5 per cent quota for minorities and Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid's promise of nine per cent sub-quota are examples of this," he said.

To a question on former UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, the BJP leader said he was not a member of the party.

On Kushwaha's campaigning for the party, Naqvi said he was not doing so from the party dais. "If someone campaigns for the BJP, it is his own will."