BJP came to the defence of Jaswant Singh who has triggered off a controversy with his references to the Kandahar hijack.
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday came to the defence of its senior leader and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh who has triggered off a controversy with his references to the Kandahar hijack, Gujarat riots and 'revelations' about a 'mole' in the PMO in his memoirs.
However, the saffron party without being critical virtually disagreed with Singh's remarks on the 'mishandling' of the Gujarat riots saying, "Chief Minister Narendra Modi handled the situation in the most competent manner."
"He (Singh) has not written anything controversial. The Congress is indulging in propaganda against him. He has not stated anywhere in the book that any ransom was paid for the release of IC 814 hostages," BJP Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra told reporters here after an hour-long meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party here, chaired by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Asked about Singh's reference to the 'mishandling' of the Gujarat riots in his book 'A Call To Honour', he said, "everybody knows what happened in Gujarat was not something good. But Chief Minister Modi's competence in dealing with the situation has been widely praised. Never in any riots, 200 people were killed in Army firing alone."
Singh too has made no reference to Modi in his book but listed the riots and the inability to control the demolition of the disputed site at Ayodhya among the party's low points.
Malhotra said Singh has sought time with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for handing over the documents pertaining to the 'mole' in PMO during P V Narasimha Rao's tenure and would 'clarify' his position to the media.
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