New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Jan 30, 2004) demanded a probe by the Government on the alleged payment of bribes by former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to Congress saying that it was a serious matter and the party "owed an explanation" to the nation on this matter.

"The current Government in Iraq is probing oil bribes paid by the Saddam regime and the Congress Party is also a beneficiary of it. We demand a probe by the Government into this matter," party spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters.

The Congress had yesterday rejected allegations that it had received foreign funding for its election purposes, saying the charge was "baseless" and below the dignity of the party to react on it.

He condemned the walkout by the Opposition protesting Speaker Manohar Joshi's "failure" to mention Mahatma Gandhi's name while paying homage to freedom fighters on the Martyrs' Day.

"We condemn the Congress behaviour for walking out on the ruling by the Speaker and, after all, there have been thousands of freedom fighters and it is not possible to name all of them," he said.