The Hindu : Jaitley repeats allegation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 14, 2004

National

National

Jaitley repeats allegation

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 13. The Union Law Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson, Arun Jaitley, today repeated the allegation against the Congress based on a memoir written by the former Cabinet Secretary, B.G. Deshmukh.

His charge was that when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister, he had endangered the nation's security, particularly that of the Prime Minister, by expressing a wish to get security officers trained by "an Italian" and pay for it from "party funds."

"Let someone deny this. Did it happen or not? Why has the Congress not responded to this? Who was this Italian," he asked.

Is the BJP demanding an inquiry? Will the Government order an inquiry? In response to these specific questions, Mr. Jaitley said: "the party will decide on its next step."

Why had Mr. Deshmukh kept quiet for 12 years? Was it not the responsibility and duty of every citizen to share the information related to security of the Prime Minister with the authorities concerned?

In response to these questions, Mr. Jaitley conceded that "any responsible citizen" with any information related to the security of the Prime Minister had the duty to share the information with the authorities.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National