Come clean on Ahmed Patel's IS links, BJP tells Congress

Attempting to rake up the issue of terrorism ahead of Gujarat polls, the BJP on Saturday asked the Congress to come clean on links between a suspected Islamic State (IS) operative and its (Congress) leader Ahmed Patel.

Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters that the Congress' refusal to take action against Patel would be treated as its support for the anti-national activity.

"Instead of taking action, The Congress is busy accusing the BJP of politicising the issue. This makes Ahmed Patel even more questionable," Naqvi said.

A week after the Gujarat Police arrested two IS suspects, the BJP said that one of them worked at a hospital where Ahmad Patel, political adviser to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is a trustee.

"Sonia Gandhi's political adviser is attached with the hospital in question since 1979. And, then that hospital is being connected to terror. So it is natural that questions will be raised," the minister added. The blot on the Congress will be larger than that for corruption if the Opposition party fails to come clean of Patel's links with the IS, said Naqvi.

"So far we used to say, Congress ke hath, corruption ke Sath (The Congress's hand supports corruption). Now people will say, Congress ka hath atankvad je sath (Congress's hand supports terrorism)," Naqvi added.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, however, defended Patel.