Sunday, April 16 2006 14:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hindupur (AP): Seeking to wriggle out of the political embarrassment over his remarks on the release of terrorists by the NDA government in the wake of Kandahar hijack, senior BJP leader L K Advani today put the blame on media saying it had 'distored' his observations and created a 'needless controversy'.

"I had said it was a considered decision of the government to bring the hostages back and what Jaswant Singh (the then External Affairs Minister) did was to implement government's collective decision," he said.

Advani was reacting to reporters' questions on his Pune remarks last week that appear to indicate that he opposedthe release of three dreaded terrorists, including MasoodAzhar, in exchange for passengers of an Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan.