The Congress, which leads the ruling UPA, on Monday said Advani should apologise to the nation for his roles on cash-for-vote scam, riots in Gujarat and the release of three terrorists to secure release of the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight in Kandahar.
The ruling party said Singh’s recent revelations had made it clear that Advani, who had held the Home Affairs portfolio as the Deputy Prime Minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, had not spoken truth about his roles on the three occasions.
“In all the three issues, the country wants an explanation from Advani and the BJP. The nation wants answers. At the least, he should apologise to the nation,” said All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesman and Rajya Sabha (RS) MP, Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
He claimed that Singh’s revelations had made it clear that Advani had knowledge about the source of the wads of currency that the three BJP MPs had brought to the LS during the trial vote on nuke deal on July 22 last year.
Singhvi also referred to Singh’s exposure that Advani had blocked central intervention against Narendra Modi’s Government in Gujarat during the 2002 communal flare-up although the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had contemplated actions against the BJP government in the state. He said the former External Affairs Minister had nailed the untrue claim of Advani that he had not been aware of the NDA government’s decision to release the three terrorists as demanded by the IC 814 hijackers.
“In any functional democracy, such omissions are considered crime. These are also serious breaches of morality,” said the AICC spokesman.
