BJP slams Cong over support to 'Maoists'

Targeting the Congress, the BJP on Tuesday accused UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) of being a "supporting ground for Maoists" and it questioned senior Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Jairam Ramesh for taking positions which were supportive of people with Maoists links.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra showed a letter purportedly written by one Maoist leader to another during a press conference and said it spoke about the Congress' willingness to fund their activities and contacting Digvijay Singh for assistance.

Senior Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said one should investigate how BJP got hold of a copy seized by investigators.

Patra said Congress tried to "mainstream Maoism and Naxalism" during its rule and the party should, therefore, call itself the "Congress Party of Maoists".

"National security is an issue of paramount importance and to play with national security only for political opportunism is something which the Congress has been doing," he said.

Claiming that the letter was written by one "Comrade Surendra to Comrade Prakash", he claimed that it said the Congress leaders were willing to fund them. Patra also alleged that the letter contained a phone number of Singh.

"The National Advisory Council, the coterie of those who were closest to the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was the supporting ground for Maoists," he said.