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Vajpayee letter to Indira 'biggest lie of the year': BJP
August 21, 2003 19:09 IST
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday rejected the allegation that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had written a letter to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during Emergency seeking pardon to gain release from prison.
"There cannot be a bigger lie. It is the biggest lie of the year. There is no such letter," BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said.
Some Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders had alleged that Vajpayee had written such a letter.
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Malhotra said over 1,40,000 people were imprisoned during Emergency and claimed several refused to take parole even on the death of their relatives or marriage of children.
"May be some persons who were incarcerated might have written letters seeking apology," he, however, added.
Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi is examining the contents of a letter purportedly written by Vajpayee, which was sought to be read out by RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in Lok Sabha during the debate on no-confidence motion.
RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav had also made similar allegations against Sangh Parivar and BJP leaders outside Parliament.
Attacking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Malhotra said, "She (Sonia) is still a reader. Only those making maiden speeches are allowed to read out but she has been doing it for the last five years and even during the no-confidence motion against the government, she twice took permission from the chair to read out her speech."
He said this was enough to convince the masses and the country as to 'how such a person can be leader of the country'.