The fresh bout over the contentious issue between the two BJP stalwarts has left their partymen bewildered and has bemused people at large.
NEW DELHI: A grim reminder by the former foreign minister Jaswant Singh to his senior BJP colleague LK Advani that he went to Kandahar during the Indian Airlines plane hijacking crisis following a decision by the Cabinet Committee on Security has caused embarrassment to the latter.
Jaswant' repartee is in response to Advani's recent statement that the CCS had not taken any such decision and that he was unaware as to how the then foreign minister travelled to Kandahar.
The fresh bout over the contentious issue between the two BJP stalwarts has left their partymen bewildered and has bemused people at large.
The rather tongue-in-cheek response by Jaswant that Advani would either have forgotten or have been absent from the crucial meetings, says it all. The more the two stalwarts are trying to ward-off the spectre of Kandahar, the more strongly it comes back to haunt the saffron party and its top leadership.
Advani's earlier assertion pleading ignorance about his cabinet colleague's Kandahar visit was seen in the political circles as an attempt to rid the BJP of the stigma once for all. And for this reason, the party even rallied behind him at that juncture in the hope that the issue would no longer haunt them.
The temporary reprieve ended sooner than expected. Jaswant had already made his intentions clear during Advani's book release function last month. He publicly repudiated the Ayodhya happenings and the former deputy prime minister's views about Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Jaswant was marking his time and chose the anniversary of Pokhran II to set the record straight on Kandahar controversy from his viewpoint.
a_anil@dnaindia.net
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