Kargil will be a poll issue 8212; Advani

The senior BJP leader said that when the country was heading for a war-like situation with Pakistani army regulars infiltrating in Kargil, the Congress which was once led by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, preferred taking a negative approach on the issue.

The century-old party opposed the Kargil war effort by raising questions and issuing statements that were totally out of tune with the peoples8217; mood and which objectively could have only helped the enemy, he pointed out.

The opposition party even went one step further and adopted a resolution that it would target the Vajpayee government in its election campaign on Kargil issue and highlight the failures8217; of Kargil, he said.

8220;Though Kargil issue may influence voters, but on principle we had decided not to take it. We are doing it because the Opposition is blaming us that Vajpayee has mishandled it. Do you expect us not to counter the Congress tactics ?quot; he retorted.

Answering a question, he said that as many as 1845 jawans were killed in the proxy war initiated by Pakistan in the border state before Kargil operation and accused the Congress of making an issue of recent killing of around 400 jawans in Kargil operation.

Lashing out at the Congress, the Union Home Minister, who is also the chairman of the BJP8217;s election campaign committee said that the century-old party had today degenerated into an outfit synonymous with negative politics. In Congress, the party interests were placed above national interests and the interests of one individual above the party interests, he quipped obviously making a reference to Sonia Gandhi.

He alleged that once the ruling party at Centre, the Congress opposed the exercise of the nuclear option by India, even though this process was initiated by the Congress government, led by late Indira Gandhi, way back in 1974; obstructed the legislation to empower women with 33 per cent reservation, opposed the dismissal of unpopular Rabri Devi government in Bihar and the recent hue and cry over the new telecom policy and its implementation. 8220;Even though it was obvious to many of its leaders that the new telecom policy was in the national interest and that there was no irregularity involved, the Congress tried to paint it as a big scam,8221; he further pointed out.

The negative politics of the Congress had led to its marginalisation, loss of mass support and above all, loss of credibility, he remarked and asserted that the BJP and its allies would make a clean sweep in the forthcoming elections.

Advani expressed confidence that he was confident that the former Delhi chief minister and the party nominee from Bellary in Karnataka, Sushma Swaraj, would make a history and wrest the seat from the Congress which it never lost.

Sonia Gandhi and her party8217;s efforts to keep her filing of nomination a closely guarded secret came a cropper with Swaraj making it before the expiry of the deadline on Wednesday, he remarked.