Fear of US made BJP keep silent on mole issue: Karat

AHMEDABAD: CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday alleged that the BJP kept silent on the mole-in-the PMO issue when it was in power because it was afraid of displeasing the United States.

"BJP was afraid of angering United States and so did not set up an inquiry into the matter when the party was in power", Karat said while addressing a gathering of party workers in Ahmedabad.

"Though BJP came to power two terms after Narasimha Rao government, it did not set up an inquiry though Jaswant Singh knew about the presence of an US mole in Rao's office," Karat said.

"They did not want to act against the Americans and so they did not bring up this issue when they were in power," he alleged.

"America ko naraz karna sab se bada paap hai (Angering the US is the biggest crime)," Karat said while referring to the foreign policies of both the BJP and Congress governments.

Karat alleged that even the Congress did not want to discuss the Indo-US nuclear deal in Parliament because they were afraid of incurring the displeasure of the US.

"It is a known fact that both the BJP and Congress governments have come under pressure from the US in the past," Karat said.

He criticised BJP leader L K Advani of visiting the office of CIA director when he had gone to U S as the deputy prime minister.

Advocating that India should follow an independent foreign policy, Karat said that CPI(M) would "not allow any country including the US to dictate terms."