Tuesday, March 15 2005 09:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Congress yesterday (Mar 14, 2005) targeted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani for his defence of Narendra Modi Government in Gujarat saying it was a "negation of truth".

"Advani has given two statements in the last two days. First, he gave a clean chit to Modi and secondly he described Gujarat as the best administered State. This is not only startling but negation of the truth," Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters in New Delhi.

Questioning these statements by Advani, he said perhaps the former Home Minister has forgotten as to what has happened in the State when "through systematic way officials were not allowed to discharge their duties or even were told not to act in a way to punish the guilty" in the post-Godhra riots.

He said that all these happenings had forced the Supreme Court to shift riot cases away from Gujarat.

"We feel that Modi and his Government must be held accountable for what had happened in Gujarat," he said.

He also took a dig at Advani for demanding that BJP should also have been made a part of the Dandi March and said, "How come those opposed to Gandhian Philosophy and its ideals should be part of such a historic event?"