How can I say that Advani is not correct: Jaswant

In remarks that are at variance with those of Advani, Jaswant Singh said the decision to send him to Kandahar 1999 during the Indian Airlines plane hijack crisis was taken by Cabinet Committee on Security and the then Home Minister could have ‘forgotten’ it.

In remarks that are at variance with those of L K Advani, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh said the decision to send him to Kandahar 1999 during the Indian Airlines plane hijack crisis was taken by Cabinet Committee on Security and the then Home Minister could have ‘forgotten’ it.

“It was a decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security,” Singh said when asked about the then External Affairs Minister accompanying three terrorists to Kandahar to seek release of 156 people held hostage on hijacked Indian Airlines plane.

When referred to Advani’s recent remarks that he was not aware about his going to Kandahar as CCS had not taken any such decision, Singh said the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha ‘would either have forgotten or have been absent from the meeting’.

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Advani, in an interview, had said, “I wouldn’t know that (Singh is going). He (Singh) must have consulted (the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayeeji. I don’t think I am answerable for that. If the CCS had taken the decision, I would have been answerable but it did not.”

Pressed further on the issue, Singh said he was not seeking to refute what his ‘leader’ has said.

“Do you expect me to refute what Advaniji has said? How can I say that my leader (Advani) is not correct? How can the leader be wrong? Whatever he is saying is correct,” Singh said.

He said the steps taken by the government were in accordance with the decision arrived at an all-party meeting.

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“The first priority arrived upon at the meeting of all parties was the security of the passengers and their early release,” he added.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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