New Delhi: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani has said BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) will raise the issue of foreign origin of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the coming Lok Sabha elections and accused the Opposition of making Hindutva a poll issue.

"It (foreign origin of Gandhi) will obviously be raised by BJP," he said when asked in an interview on Zee news if his party will raise the issue in elections.

First it was the party (Congress), which got into the issue of foreign origin of its leader leading to its division and there was no other difference between the leaders who left the party at that time, Advani said in a reference to the exit of Sharad Pawar and others on the issue.

Even the former Lok Sabha Speaker resigned saying that no person of foreign origin could become a President or Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister said, adding that the "issue has since been there and has not vanished".

On Hindutva, Advani said, "Since 1952 elections when Bharatiya Jan Sangh was a small party, it was charged with communalism and criticised as being against secularism. And when our opponents charge us, secularism and Hindutva become issues. Therefore, it had never happened that Hindutva has not become an election issue.

"This time also it will happen," Advani said.

PTI