New Delhi, May 9 : Twenty eight years after the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress party has suddenly “discovered” a BJP role in his death, Union Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said on Thursday,
He called the Congress “desperate” and said that from May 1991 to 2004, the grand old party was blaming its ally DMK for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, and after 28 years one of its leaders had found the BJP responsible for his death.
“From December 1990 till May 1991, when Shri Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, the Congress Party supported Chandra Shekhar government in power.
“From May 1991 till 2004, the Congress blamed its present ally the DMK for Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. It even withdrew support from the United Front government on this ground. 28 years later, today a desperate Congress has discovered a BJP role,” he tweeted.
Mr Jaitley ‘s sarcasting comment came in wake of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s statement that lack of security provided by “BJP-backed government” led to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
“Abusing a martyred Prime Minister is the sign of ultimate cowardice. But who is responsible for his assassination? The BJP backed V P Singh govt refused to provide him with additional security and left him with one PSO despite credible intelligence inputs and repeated requests,” Mr Patel had said in a Twitter post.
Mr Jaitley then repeated what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said on Wednesday about the former premier using INS Viraat for personal holidays.
“The Kaamdars use India’s Naval assets to strike at terror. The Naamdars use them for personal vacations with family and in-laws,” he added.
“At the time when INS Viraat was positioned for protection of maritime boundaries, it was sent to take Rajiv Gandhi and his family to an island for their holiday. Even his in-laws were onboard INS Viraat. Was it not a compromise of national security?
”Even Navy personnel were put on service of Rajiv Gandhi and his family while they were vacationing at the island. INS Virat was also stationed at the island for 10 days during that time,” he had said.
