Advani held no importance to Congress, says Ambika Soni

NEW DELHI - Reacting on the exchange of letters between senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani and Congress President Sonia Gandhi over black money allegations, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Friday (February 18), said Advani holds no position in the party to be taken seriously by the Congress.

“I thought Mr. Advani had retired sometime ago and left the space for younger people in the party such as Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, who today occupy the two positions of Leaders of the Opposition in both the Houses. So when they say something, I will probably respond to it,” Ambika Soni told reporters here.

“You see, Mr. Advani has been making a statement every day on different subjects; probably he is not having enough time to study what he is saying. If he had studied it, he would have not made the statement,” she added.

Advani has apologised to Sonia Gandhi for a party-appointed task force report, which had alleged that she and her late husband former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had accounts in Swiss banks.

The report of the task force, which was appointed by the BJP to unravel the amount of black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks and ways to bring it back, had alleged that Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were among the Indians, who held Swiss bank accounts.

The Congress President had written a letter to Advani in this regard.

The BJP veteran in his reply to Sonia Gandhi’s letter expressed regret over her name and that of her late husband being mentioned in the task force report.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar commenting on the issue said such clarifications by the Gandhis had been given earlier, but they were proved guilty. (ANI)