New Delhi: A day after Jaswant Singh said he had withheld the truth on Kandahar to protect Advani, and that Advani knew he was on the plane to Kandahar the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted.
Party general secretary Venkaiah Naidu questioned how anyone could believe what Jaswant is saying now on the issue, when he has himself admitted he did not tell the whole truth earlier.
"These are issues of the past. Mr Jaswant Singh himself told yesterday he did not speak truth then, so how can we rely on his statements now?" said Naidu.
The BJP has slammed Jaswant's remarks against Advani as nothing more than a lie.
In an interview to NDTV, Jaswant said he had withheld the complete truth about the Kandahar hijacking episode, and that Advani, who was the Home Minister then, knew Jaswant was accompanying the three terrorists to Kandahar.
Barkha Dutt: You're today saying that L K Advani knew that you were going to go?
Jaswant Singh: Yes, I went and told him what do you want me to now say Advaniji?
Barkha Dutt: So what did he say?
Jaswant Singh: He said you should say whatever you want to. I didn't.
Barkha Dutt: but then during the election campaign, you didn't actually reveal this.
Jaswant Singh: No I didn't. I tried to cover for him. I treated it as my continuing sense of commitment and loyalty.
Barkha Dutt: This is a serious thing you're saying that you tried to cover for L K Advani on the Kandahar issue.
Jaswant Singh: I did, I did.
That's not all. In another interview to NDTV, Jaswant said that during the Gujarat riots, the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was so upset that he even contemplated resignation.
"I didn't know what had happened, but as I was summoned, I went and I was told to take care as he was resigning. I went in, he pulled a piece of paper and started writing with his hand. I held his hand, he looked at me severely. Questioned what I was doing and I asked him not to do what he was doing. Somehow I persuaded him," said Jaswant.
But the BJP now claims that's not true, though it admits Vajpayee was very disturbed during the Gujarat riots.
"I was BJP president at that time. Vajpayee was very disturbed but did not contemplate resignation," said Naidu.
The BJP may be dismissing Jaswant's latest remarks, but the Congress says it's shocking.
"It's an absolutely shocking revelation that has been made by Mr Jaswant Singh. A lot of extremely unsavoury and unpleasant details are coming out that are being washed by the BJP in public," said Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan.
But the question that many are asking is - does Jaswant Singh have more to reveal in the days to come?