UPA govt succumbed to US pressure after Mumbai terror attack, alleges BJP citing Chidambaram's remarks

New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) After the 2008 Mumbai terror strike, the Congress-led UPA government did not take any strong action against Pakistan as it "succumbed to the US pressure", the BJP on Saturday charged, latching on to the recent remarks of former Union ministers P Chidambaram and Manish Tewari.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia asked the Congress' top leadership to clarify why the Manmohan Singh government allowed foreign "interference" in India's internal matters.

He demanded that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi come clean on the "revelations" made by Chidambaram in a recent interview to a news channel.

Bhatia noted that Chidambaram, who was the Union Home Minister then, said in the interview that the entire world had descended on New Delhi to stop it from taking any action against Pakistan in retaliation against the terror strike.

The senior Congress leader also said that the then US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, had asked him and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "not to react", he said.

"And, no action was taken," the BJP spokesperson said.

"When India was waiting for a strong response after the 26/11 attack during the Congress regime, Sonia Gandhi was waiting for directions from Washington. This was the foreign policy of a compromised and weak Congress-led UPA government," Bhatia alleged.

Congress MP Manish Tewari, who was a Union minister in the erstwhile UPA government, has also termed the "revelations" made by Chidambaram a matter of "serious concern", the BJP spokesperson said, citing media reports.

"Where is Rahul Gandhi? Is he not answerable to the people of the country?" Bhatia asked.

"What is the priority of Rahul Gandhi? Is it to just go to a country, be there for four days, hatch a conspiracy against India to weaken India, to defame India, and not answer the pertinent questions being raised by the citizens of our country?" he said.

Taking on Gandhi over his latest remarks in Columbia, Bhatia alleged that the Congress leader "who was partying till 4 AM after the Mumbai terror strike" goes abroad and says on foreign soil that India should not lead the world.

"'Arey aparipakva balak' (Hey, immature child), will you defame India when you are not able to lead the Congress?" the BJP spokesperson asked Gandhi.

Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will be cited as "betrayers" in history, he charged. PTI PK RT RT