New Delhi: Former home minister L.K. Advani had resigned as an MP in 1996 over allegations of involvement in the Jain hawala scam and was re-elected later in 1998 after his name was cleared.
At the BJP parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress for levelling allegations against BJP leaders and described as “historical blunders” the allegations against Mr Advani (in the hawala case) and Mr Jaitley.
Mr Modi also said the entire nation had stood by Mr Advani then, and in a single voice had condemned the Congress’ attitude. Mr Modi also said the Congress was deliberately targeting BJP leaders and “shamelessly” disturbing Parliament as it was not able to digest its Lok Sabha defeat last year.
BJP MP Kirti Azad, who had been raising the issue of alleged irregularities in the Delhi cricket body for long and had targeted Mr Jaitley, was not present during the parliamentary party meeting.
Speculation is rife that the BJP may act against Mr Azad soon after the Winter Session ends on Wednesday. After the meeting, parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu quoted Mr Modi as having said that BJP leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje had similarly faced such “wrong” charges from the Congress earlier.
“The PM gave the example of mr Advani. The government at that time tried to implicate him in the case. Mr Advani came through with flying colours and the strategy of the Congress boom-eranged,” Mr Naidu said, quoting Mr Modi.
