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Arun Nehru raises Sonia's 'un-Indianness'

Former Union minister Arun Nehru has called for a nationwide referendum on whether a person of foreign origin can become prime minister.

Participating in a TV programme, Nehru, when asked whether the Bharatiya Janata Party picked him as candidate only to counter Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said:

''This is a law of probability. Did those who frame the Constitution in 1950-51 even dream that a person of foreign origin would (try to) become the prime minister of India? But today it is a reality before us... To become an Indian citizen at 35 and then prime minister at 50! It is for the public to make a decision. There should be a referendum on what we want."

Asked if he accepted the BJP's ideology, Nehru said, ''I have accepted the national agenda for governance. Atalji has also given up the BJP agenda for a national agenda... Today Atalji's image is not only that of a BJP leader, he has a national stature and he is a statesman. Today the BJP and allies are getting advantage of this."

Referring to his tenure as the internal security minister, Nehru clarified that he did ask the intelligence department to find out who were sending funds into the country, to whom and for what purpose.

"It was a coincidence that they were all Christian organisations. And action had to be taken against those who violated the legal provisions. So the raids took place... Internal security involves many sensitive issues and it was my responsibility."

He termed as ''rumours'' the reports that he had opened Sonia Gandhi's letters while he was in charge of internal security.

Nehru denied the charge that it was he who made Bofors an issue. ''With the formation of the Jan Morcha we had begun opposing Rajiv (Gandhi) and details of Amitabh Bachchan's and Ajitabh Bachhan's flats had come out. Rajiv and those in the Congress went around saying that it was the handiwork of Arun Nehru and V P Singh. But it was later revealed that someone else had revealed the Bachchan documents. However, since it was a political fight, we exploited all weak points that we found," he said.

Nehru also denied that he was behind the Thakkar Commission report. "Even Rajiv Gandhi said I had inspired the report and leaked it out. But nobody turned up to question me... The Thakkar Commission was set up by Rajiv Gandhi and the report implicated two or three persons. But then Rajiv needed those two or three persons and inducted them into his government," he claimed.

UNI

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