New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on November 28 questioned the propriety of Congress president Sonia Gandhi deciding to deliver a lecture at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies on November 29, saying the Centre was alleged to be linked with Osama bin Laden, but Congress dismissed the charge as a "political gimmick".

If anything was really objectionable about the Centre, the government should have informed the party, a Congress spokesman said.

"We do hope that the Congress party and its president had acquainted themselves with these facts before accepting the invitation. We believe that it is for the Congress and its president to ultimately decide whether they should associate with the Centre or not," BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley told reporters.

Quoting reports in the international media, he said in October 2001, Prince of Wales Charles had hosted a dinner in support of the Centre for Bakr bin Laden, brother of Osama bin Laden.

PTI