Advani is desperate to become PM, says Congress

Accusing the BJP's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani of raking up "baseless issues almost every day", the Congress today said he was trying to mislead the people by claiming that black money to the tune of lakhs of crores of rupees is in certain Swiss banks.

"BJP leader LK Advani said black money worth several lakh crores of rupees is deposited in Swiss banks and should be brought back to India," Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said. "I would like to question him about the source of this information. This is nothing but an attempt to mislead the people.

"In the six years of NDA rule, what was Advaniji doing on this issue? He said 5,000 billion crore Indian rupees are deposited in Swiss banks. All these 'facts' are fake. He is so desperate to become the prime minister that he rakes up baseless issues almost every day."

On Advani challenging prime minister Manmohan Singh to a debate, Singh said, "I would like to ask him what he had been doing in Parliament in the last five years. Was a debate on the nuke deal not a debate?

"Why should a debate not be held with Mayawati, Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Prasad, and Sharad Yadav. After all, they all are claimants for the prime minister's post."

On other national issues, Singh said the Congress is often accused of going soft on terror. "The BJP, which has been advocating a tough anti-terror law, should not forget that the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) was in force when the Parliament and Red Fort attacks occured," he said. "The Congress has never compromised with terrorists and terrorism."

The Congress leader said the BJP time and again raised the issue of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and questioned the delay in hanging him. "Advani's decision-making abilities can be gauged from the fact that during his stint as home minister, there were 26 petitions for mercy pending, which included three moved by the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi," he said.