Date:30/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/30/stories/2008103061101200.htm

National

Congress wants BJP leaders to come clean

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to come clean on the links of its leaders, including president Rajnath Singh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan with Sadhvi Pragnya Singh, accused of involvement in bomb blasts in Malegaon and elsewhere.

“The BJP [should also tell] as to whether the party itself, which has for long been speaking against terrorism, is not actually a part of the problem and involved with known terrorists such as Pragnya Singh,” party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said here.

She said the BJP, which proclaimed loudly on how to take a strong stand against terrorism, now stood exposed along with its sister organisations in the Sangh Parivar of direct links with terrorists.

Ms. Natarajan said the BJP should inform the country on the exact nature of involvement of its leaders with Pragnya Singh as clearly evident from the photographs showing her in close conversation with these leaders.

The Congress charged the BJP with using its links with those accused of terrorism to polarise votes on communal lines and gain political advantage. It would like to highlight the “deafening silence” of the party leaders on this issue.

The party also said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence should probe the sources of “considerable” funds that had gone to Pragnya Singh and her companions.