Friday, March 24 2006 16:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Mounting a fresh offensive, Leader of Opposition L K Advani today(Mar 24,2006) said Congress President Sonia Gandhi's resignation as an MP and NAC Chairperson was 'not a sacrifice but a compulsion, not morality but drama.'

"Someone has rightly said "tyag nahin majboori hain, naitikta nahin notanki hai (it's not sacrifice but a compulsion, not morality but drama)", he told reporters after a two-hour meeting of party office bearers to discuss the situation arising out of Gandhi's resignation and the party's future course of action.

He said when it became clear to Gandhi that she has been caught holding the office of profit and she would be disqualified as was done in the case of Samajwadi Party MP Jaha Bachchan, she resigned as a 'face-saving measure' and projected it as a sacrifice.

"That it was not a sacrifice was established by the fact that the Parliament was adjourned sine die in a last-ditch effort to save her from disqualification," he added.

Advani alleged that even Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairperson Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was not taken into confidence on the issue of adjourning the House sine die. Asked whether BJP would support any Bill aimed at saving MPs holding office of profit from disqualification, he said, "We will decide after studying the nature of such a bill."

The Leader of Opposition also said he was unaware of any BJP MPs or MLAs holding any office of profit.