Modi phobia behind CBI move to question IB in Ishrat case:BJP

BJP today charged that growing phobia of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Congress was behind CBI move to question IB in the Ishrat Jahan case and said such "misuse" of government institutions for political purposes will destroy them.

"The cost of Modi-phobia will now be paid by Intelligence Bureau. Its senior officials will be grilled. They will be asked details of their intelligence collection methodologies. They could be questioned on the legalities of the means deployed by them to collect intelligence," Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said in an article issued by the BJP.

He maintained it was IB, a central intelligence agency, that provided the information about the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) module of which Ishrat Jahan was a part. Though 26/11 convict David Headley had also confirmed that she was a LeT operative, the Central government smelt an opportunity in opening the case after her mother filed a PIL, he said.

Jaitley alleged that government has been misusing CBI for political purposes and this case appears to be one such. He lamented that in the process the IB will be asked questions about the authenticity of the intelligence collected.

BJP has often accused the Congress of indulging in minority appeasement for political gains.

"Motives could be attributed to them (IB) for having collected material against the Lashkar-e-Taiba and passed it to Gujarat Police. Only Pakistan and LeT would have the last laugh. The myopic political regime in Delhi has not realised the significance of destroying institutions," Jaitley said.

The BJP leader charged that the Congress-led government is out to harass the Gujarat government even if it means destroying India’s security apparatus. "The object of the Congress party is clear," he added.