Cong’s ‘flip-flop’ on Ishrat Jahan may be new arrow in BJP’s quiver

The alleged flip-flop by the previous UPA government on the Ishrat Jahan affidavit may continue to fire the BJP’s charge in the ongoing budget session of the Parliament. Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the then home minister, P Chidambaram, and the Congress tried to help Ishrat despite the whole world knowing her links with the LeT.

Addressing BJP MPs during the weekly meeting, Jaitley said the Congress compromised on national security for political gains and caused grave damage to the security apparatus.

“This was the first time a home minister was trying to prove a terrorist as a nationalist. The home minister appeared to be working with the LeT,” Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said after the BJP parliamentary party meeting. Naqvi said it was it was done to oppose Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat CM since the Congress could not fight him electorally.

“The nation would not have seen something as abhorrent and shameful as this,” he said, adding there would be a discussion on this in Parliament. Jaitley also briefed the party MPs about the Uttarakhand crisis, saying the Speaker’s conduct in the House on March 18 led to the constitutional breakdown.

“An attempt was made to pass the Appropriation Bill that was defeated on the floor of the House with 35 out of 67 MLAs opposing it. They tried to keep a minority government running,” Jaitley said.

JAITLEY SAID CONGRESS COMPROMISED ON NATIONAL SECURITY FOR POLITICAL GAINS, CAUSED GRAVE DAMAGE TO SECURITY APPARATUS