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Sonia’s charge baseless: BJP

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday dismissed Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s charge that BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani was the “slave” of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and could take no decision on his own for “fear.”

“This is a baseless insinuation,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said when asked about comments made by Ms. Gandhi at an election rally in Bidar, Karnataka. He flatly denied that Mr. Advani was forced to resign as BJP president in 2005 after his return from a visit to Pakistan where he had praised the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, for his “secular” credentials, much to the anger and annoyance of RSS leaders.

“This is baseless,” he repeated.

The party was asked to list Mr. Advani’s achievements against the backdrop of the charge by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his only achievement was demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

“For six years in government, he ensured stability of prices; over six years the licence-control ‘raj’ was dismantled and telephones and gas cylinders became freely available; he helped push through legislation to create three new States of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh; he pushed through the anti-terror law POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act); and he ensured that during the Agra Summit, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was not able to get his way,” Mr. Prasad said.

Making a counter charge, Mr. Prasad said Dr. Singh was a “captive Prime Minister” for Sonia Gandhi.