The BJP today hit back at Congress for flaying Arun Jaitley over his reported comment on Hindutva, saying the party is throwing "expired missiles of allegation" from the "sinking ship of corruption".
"The BJP does not need any certificate for its nationalism and ideological commitment from Congress or its government," party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
As far as WikiLeaks is concerned, the party has clarified on it and there is no need for any further clarification, he said. "Congress is throwing expired missiles of allegation from the sinking ship of corruption," said Naqvi, who is the national in-charge of the party's campaign and programme.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had earlier in the day slammed Jaitley over his reported comment that the BJP was using Hindutva as an opportunistic tool, saying it exposed the real face of the opposition party and demanded an apology from him.
"The BJP gave full credence to the WikiLeaks. So we test them by their own standards," he had said adding, "the BJP should publicly state that their stalling of Parliament over WikiLeaks revelations was wrong and apologise to the nation."
In a statement, Naqvi also accused the Congress and its allies of using "huge black money" for campaign in five assembly poll-bound states and said the Election Commission should take strong action in this regard.
Referring to the questioning of a Trinamool Congress MP at Delhi airport for carrying lakhs of rupees, he said it was a "very small example of corruption, currency, campaign and Congress nexus" in the coming elections.
Naqvi said all top party leaders, including LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, MM Joshi, Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Narendra Modi and other prominent leaders as well as chief ministers of BJP-ruled states would campaign in the coming assembly elections.
BJP plans to conduct about 800 public meetings and rallies in 824 assembly constituencies in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, he said.
