Shrikant Barve: Dr Singh also rubbished BJP chief Rajnath Singh's claim that he was consulted before the release of Kandahar terrorists saying the remark was "total untruth".
"The statement of Rajnath Singh which says that I as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha was consulted before the decision on releasing the Kandahar terrorists, is total untruth," he said. http://world.rediff.com/news/article/www/election/2009/apr/13loksabhapoll-advani-strong-in-speech-weak-in-action-pm.htmFor above statement of our PM Dr. Manmohan Sing I questions his integrety. In the link I had posted above statement are not covered... It was at the start of press conferance on April 13 Response: Shrikant,relying solely on sangh parivar sources for your information can be disastrous. You can form wrong impressions / views about people, communities and religions. Refer to the following links for authentic reporting on the Khandahar episode. Extracts: "Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minister of Gujarat, Suresh Mehta, have termed L K Advani as a ‘liar’. In two different press conferences on Saturday, both Singhvi and Mehta said Advani was not prime minister material, as he spoke “blatant lies”. Such a person should not be voted to Parliament and made Prime Minister, they said. Advani has, in his latest book, mentioned that he was not present in the meeting in which the NDA government had decided to release Pakistani terrorists in exchange of passengers onboard the hijacked Indian Airlines flight in Kandahar. Singhvi called it a total lie. He said that after the release of the book, former J-K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had said that Advani himself had called him up to inform about the release of Pakistani terrorists, and George Fernandes, who was the defence minister then, had also confirmed Advani’s presence in the meeting" http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/singhvi-and-mehta-make-an-echo-effect-call-advani-a-liar/448641/ "The Kandahar story is not dying easily. Then Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah has reiterated that LK Advani was not a reluctant party to the decision to exchange IC 814 passengers for terrorists, but an enthusiastic subscriber to it." http://www.hindustantimes.com/election09/storypage.aspx?id=98cc6ae9-c065-4935-a811-d1941d2fe7a3&category=Chunk-HT-UI-Elections-SectionPage-TopStories "'The day the demands of the hijackers -- $200 million as ransom money, release of some 36 proven terrorists and the interred remains of a terrorist -- came to me, I shared them with the Cabinet and sought advice. The Cabinet was unanimous -- 'Reject the demands and tell the press in appropriate words'. It was a tense day, the press waited outside and I had to brief them. I repeated the demands and simply added, "I now urge all in my country and abroad to reflect on these demands." There was really nothing else or more to say,' writes the former external affairs minister." http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/21onkar1.htm "Former defence minister George Fernandes has said that senior ministers decided Jaswant Singh should accompany the terrorists to Kandahar and it wasn't Singh's unilateral decision to go. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN he suggested that Advani was party to that decision and might be mistaken in his recollection when he says he was not consulted and didn't know." http://ibnlive.in.com/news/advani-was-aware-of-kandahar-hostage-exchange-deal/62201-3.html http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/28/stories/2008032854110500.htm Regards, Marshall