New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday continued to target Congress in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan case, accusing the party of having underplayed "a terror plot" against the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing a press conference, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Sambit Patra said that Congress compromised national security.
The BJP attack came after a media report said the then Home Minister P Chidambaram had signed the first affidavit in the encounter case, which he had reportedly denied earlier.
Meanwhile, another BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said Chidambaram was resorting to falsehood by claiming he was not aware of the first affidavit.
"Mr Chidambaram has spoken a blatant lie that he was not aware of the first affidavit. Now it is in public domain that he approved the first affidavit and also approved the second affidavit as well," he told reporters here.
"What was the first affidavit? The first affidavit was Ishrat Jahan was part of a terrorist module and action was taken, including some terrorists across the border. The first affidavit said it was a serious terrorist threat and there is no need for a CBI inquiry," the Union minister said.
"In the second affidavit, Chidambaram was very keen to pursue that bypassing the consultations with then home secretary. It is stated that CBI inquiry can be done. It has two purpose, demoralise the security forces and somehow frame Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. It was part of a design to frame Amit Shah and Narendra Modi in Ishrat Jahan case," he said.
"Ishrat was claimed as LeT mole by the Lashkar-e-Toiba website. And even (David) Headley in his deposition has confirmed that. Therefore, Congress party needs to explain why national security was sought to be compromised for political reasons," Prasad said.
The Congress and Chidambaram reacted to the development saying the BJP was ignoring and diluting the "real" issue of "fake" encounter in which Ishrat Jahan was killed.
Chidambaram said he cannot comment on the issue of the first affidavit without perusing the files and notings.
But, he said, the BJP was ignoring the "real" issue of the "fake" encounter in which Ishrat Jahan was killed.
