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Jethmalani asks Sonia to undergo suffering first

BJP leader and Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani today asserted that Congress president Sonia Gandhi should first go through the crucible of Indian suffering before aspiring to head the nation.

Addressing a press conference, Jethmalani, who is in Madras to campaign for the National Democratic Alliance candidate, said Gandhi for 13 long years had even held on to her foreign passport. What was her contribution to this country except marrying into "royalty", he said.

He said the NDA was not concerned about her foreign origin. She must be accountable for the Bofors payoff even if the beneficiary was her late husband since her claim to party leadership and her attempt to form a government was based on the family into which she was married.

Jethmalani said the government was now looking into where the money collected by Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi for securing the Bofors deal had gone. Circumstantial evidence had shown that the money had gone to the persons for whom it was intended, he said.

Jethmalani claimed that Gandhi and AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha had toppled the Vajpayee government as both of them did not want the cases against them to be pursued. Stating that the Bofors case was in the final stages of prosecution, he ridiculed the Congress's claim that Quattrocchi was only chargesheeted in the case.

He recalled that a Delhi special court had declared Quattrocchi as a proclaimed offender and had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. Quattrocchi, who was safely ensconced in Malaysia, had said he could be interrogated there.

"What if he claims that he could be interrogated in Italy where he was born," Jethmalani asked. This explained the danger of having an Italian as prime minister, he said, adding that any interrogation should be done in police custody.

Jethmalani criticised the Congress's claim to form a stable government, saying it was main instrument of creating instability in the country now and in the past.

Jethmalani ruled out the question of amending Article 370, providing special status to Jammu and Kashmir, saying it belonged to non-amendable sections of the Constitution. Similarly, even the Common Civil Code was not practical and there could only be a common justice code, he added. As for the Ram temple, he said it could be built only with the support and love of the Muslim community.

Claiming that the Vajpayee government would not succumb to any pressure on national security, he said the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would be signed by India as a nuclear power.

UNI

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