New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS) The BJP on Friday sought a clarification from the Congress over former home secretary G. K. Pillai's remarks concerning the alleged staged shootout of Ishrat Jehan and former home minister P. Chidambaram's remarks on Afzal Guru in parliament.
"Former home secretary has distanced himself from Ishrat's affidavit and former home minister has raised questions over the hanging of Afzal Guru. In Ishrat Jehan case, the affidavit submitted to the Gujarat High Court in 2009 about her links with LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and her accomplices was changed at the political level. A deliberate attempt was made to malign the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi," BJP member Anurag Thakur said in Lok Sabha.
"A conspiracy was hatched by the then ruling party to frame opposition leaders. Country wants to know who changed the affidavit at the political level," he asked.
The Congress members opposed the allegations and sought permission from the chair to speak over the issue but were denied by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. They also objected to the chair for selectively allowing some members to speak, but Thakur said he had given notice in this regard.
Reports on Friday quoted Pillai as saying that the affidavit in Ishrat Jehan case was changed at political level while Chidambaram was quoted in an interview as saying that the Afzal Guru case was perhaps not correctly decided and there were grave doubts about the extent of his involvement in the parliament attack.
After Pillai and Chidambaram's remarks hits the headlines, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reshared his two Facebook posts on Ishrat Jehan case written simultaneously in 2013 and 2104.
"The political regime in Delhi saw an opportunity in the alleged encounter in which this LeT module was liquidated. The Government of India decided to change its' affidavit before the Gujarat High Court. The new affidavit almost disowned the intelligence inputs," he wrote.
"The myopic political regime in Delhi has not realized the significance of destroying institutions. Harass Gujarat government even if it means destroying India's security apparatus, the object of the Congress party is clear," he added.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu also asked the Congress to clarify its stand on the two issues.
"The opposition party needs to come clean on how it looked at both the cases," he told reporters outside parliament.
