Kolkata: The Congress today (Feb 9, 2004) demanded an apology from the Vajpayee Government for including the name of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the chargesheet of the Bofors pay-off case after his death and said that this would an election plank of the party.

''We had requested the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) Government not to include Rajiv Gandhi's name in the chargesheet in 1999 after his death but they did not pay any heed to it. Now they should offer an apology when the Delhi high Court has given a clean chit to Gandhi,'' veteran Congress leader and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Pranab Mukherjee told newsmen.

Mukherjee said that during the campaign, Congress would highlight this issue.

The veteran Congress leader also ridiculed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s much-talked about "feel-good factor" and "India Shinning" campaign and said that this was being done with public money when the Lok Sabha was dissolved and election was around the corner.

The Vajpayee Government, he said, had "failed" on all fronts including national security, despite "tall claims" of various achievements.