NEW DELHI: ``Kandahar was a very bitter pill'' the Bharatiya Janata Party Government at the time had to swallow, the party said here on Tuesday.

The reaction follows the Congress' demand for a probe into the happenings after the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in 1999.

The hijacking led to three top terrorists in Indian jails being freed and delivered ``safely'' to the Taliban.

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad defended the decision to release the terrorists, including ``masterminds'' Masood Azhar and Omar Sheikh. ``It was a bitter pill that we swallowed under very compelling circumstances. There was no other way to save the lives of nearly 200 Indian nationals held hostage by the Taliban,'' he said. He did not wish to say whether that the decision indicated that the then Vajpayee Government was "soft" or "hard" on terrorists.

As for the allegation that a large sum of money was also given by the Government to the Taliban, Mr. Prasad said he had nothing to add beyond what the former External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, had said. (Mr. Singh had denied that any money was given).

Mr. Prasad wanted to know what circumstances compelled the United Progressive Alliance Government to bring back the quashed Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal Act through the amended Foreigners' Act?

He claimed that this would prevent easy deportation of identified illegal migrants at a time when it was being suspected that such migrants from Bangladesh had a role in the Mumbai blasts.

Mr. Prasad said the blasts took place in a State ruled by the Congress and its allies because the ``message" that had gone around was that the UPA was soft on terrorists.

But on the repeated naxal attacks in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, he simply blamed the Centre and added that these were taking place in a district that was ``close to the Andhra Pradesh border.''

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